Axis
by Ultraviolet Phenomenon
Summary: Vegeta's world is entirely flipped upside down when a mysterious stranger arrives on earth, and with the fight with androids quickly approaching, the Z Warriors try to make sense of her presence in their world, while she strives desperately to get back to her Earth before her strange knowledge about their lives can destroy their destiny. A little Meta fiction fun, with some laughs.
1. That Ridiculous Pink Shirt

**Oh, Dragon Ball Z fiction, where have you been all my life?**

 **In case anyone was unaware what Meta fiction actually is:**

met·a·fic·tion  
ˈmedəˌfikSH(ə)n/

 _noun: metafiction; plural noun: metafictions; noun: meta-fiction; plural noun: meta-fictions_  
 _1 fiction in which the author self-consciously alludes to the artificiality or literariness of a work by parodying or departing from novelistic conventions (especially naturalism) and traditional narrative techniques._

 **If anyone here has ever seen the episode "French Mistake" from Supernatural then you kinda, sorta, get the idea. Basically, when the characters find out that they are fiction characters, things go sideways…fast. So if you were to wake up and find yourself in the middle of the Dragon Ball Z universe, where Goku is real—strange hair and all—and the Saiyan Prince is literally the most handsome asshole you've ever met, would you enjoy the ride or try to high tail it out of there as quickly as possible? It's meta fiction all around…and how many pranks will it take before Vegeta snaps?**

 _Warning: Foul language, sarcasm, and a whole lot of snark abounds, and let's throw in the impending android threat, and some sexual tension into the mix and see how our favorite anti-hero deals with that. ; )_

 **I don't own these characters, Akira Toriyama does. Bless him for that.**

 **These characters are a trip to write. Hope you guys enjoy. ; )**

* * *

 _ **Axis**_

 _ **Chapter 1**_

 **That Ridiculous Pink Shirt**

She could still remember the heat—like the hot baking rays of the sun running over her skin. Behind her eyes was a burst of blue light, a quick sharp flash of something flickering beyond her reach and the brief recollection of the blazing hole that had opened up to swallow her; the memory of falling, consumed in a vortex of azure flames and energy that sparked like lightning across her skin. There had been no pain—no searing agony—just the inertia of her body being sucked down, and then there had been nothing.

The heat.

That sensation had been the last thing Kate's barely conscious body had felt, and it was now the first thing she remembered as awareness slowly seeped in.

But the memory of that heat was fading, dulling into a gentle warmth and ebbing towards a more natural temperature—then the ache set in. It felt like waking up the morning after a high intensity workout, where every muscle was screaming at her with very colorful words. Kate momentarily wondered if she'd been beaten to holy hell with a baseball bat. It might explaining the tense soreness of her muscles—and why she couldn't remember why she was lying down. It was uncomfortable and confusing.

She tried to stretch but a sudden solid weight against her shoulder gently pinned her in place.

"Don't try to move," a stranger's warm voice murmured.

When she tried to open her eyes, the brightness was blinding, making her wince as pain shot through her sensitive retinas. Even with her eyes closed, she could still sense his presence hovering close by and tried to ask him who he was, but her throat was dry, her mouth sluggish, and her words came voiceless in a rush of breath.

"Here," he said gently. "Drink this."

A hand lifted her head as something cool was pressed to her lips, and then a cold liquid spilled into her mouth. She could tell from the slightly sweet taste and the pungent citrus aroma that it was some type of juice, but she didn't recognize the flavor. Swallowing slowly, she sipped small portions for a moment, feeling the soft mattress that she was on dip as the weight beside her shifted. Kate wondered suddenly if she was in a hospital—after all, this wouldn't be the first time that she'd woken up in one. She listened for the familiar beep of a heart monitor, the telltale echo of bustling footsteps as doctors and nurses came and went, but there were none, making her furrow her brows.

The hand gingerly lowered her head back onto a pillow.

"Any luck with those Senzu Beans, Krillin?"

The shock of those words registered in her brain, sending a jolt through her.

"Senzu beans?" Kate croaked groggily in confusion, interrupting another voice. "Did you say Krillen? What…?"

Blearily she squinted against the light, blinking through the haze as she tried to focus, fighting the sensitivity of her eyes. At first she couldn't make sense of anything, and then slowly the orange and navy blur beside her began to sharpen, a strange silhouette taking form, until the man beside her finally came into focus.

For a heartbeat, her brain malfunctioned.

Then her eyes zeroed in on the very familiar details of the stranger's calm smile, her gaze roving over the outline of his wild unkempt hair that she recognized instantly.

Then her brain processed the words he'd spoken…

Senzu beans…

Krillen…

Kate screamed.

Then Goku screamed, watching in alarm as Kate bolted upright, continuing to scream as she scrambled to get away from him until she collided against the headboard with a solid _thunk_. Her heart pounded violently in her ears, her large blue eyes gaping at him in wide-eyed panic, like a wild animal that had been cornered.

Quickly recovering from the shock of her reaction, Goku's face softened. "Hey, it's okay!" he told her, holding out his hands calmly. "We aren't going to hurt you. You're safe."

Kate's eyes shifted warily when she registered the word 'we', and another yelp of alarm slid between her lips.

Six other figures were lined along the walls behind him—all of them also looking eerily like realistic replicas of Dragon Ball Z characters.

" _What in the hell is this_?" she shrieked at them, trying to flatten herself against the headboard. "Is this some kind of joke?"

"What do you mean?"

It took Kat a moment to tear her eyes away from hulking green form scowling at her from the doorway, where it leaned agaist it as if guarding it, but when her eyes finally slid back to Goku, his puzzled expression disarmed her momentarily.

"A joke?" Goku chuckled nervously, scratching back of his head. "Why would I joke about not hurting you?" He blinked at her innocently for a moment and then sighed. "Listen, I'm—"

"Goku." The name slid right out of Kate's mouth before she had time to contemplate the insanity of it.

"Huh?" Goku blinked back at her in surprise, before glancing back at the others who all had matching expressions of shock on their faces. He turned back to her, completely baffled as he cocked his head to the side. "How do you know my name? Have we met before?"

Kate stared at him, struck numb, realizing from the tone of his voice that he was being entirely serious.

" _No, no_ ," she said, shaking a finger at him, " _No, no, no_. You're not real," she stammered, ignoring the screaming protest of her muscles as she kicked the sheets off frantically, scrambling off the other side of the bed to get away from him. "None of you are real. You can't be real!"

Hey legs wobbled unsteadily causing her to stumble backwards, the loose chestnut waves of her waist length hair swirling around her as she tried to scrape it frantically away from her face.

"Just calm down," Goku said, raising his hands cautiously. "You're safe. We aren't going to hurt you."

Her chest heaved as she tried to catch her breath. Her heart was still pounding furiously as her eyes flickered from face to face, while her mind tried to make sense of what she was seeing.

Goku. Krillen. Big, green monster.

The tiny bald man and the large green… _thing_ , were closest to the door, and both seemed poised to stop anything from leaving, making her gulp. The others all looked on, seeming somewhat fascinated and yet bewildered by her behavior.

A sudden breeze between her legs made Kate's eyes drop to stare down the line of her body.

That's when she finally noticed the short-sleeved, pink button-down that fell only a few tiny inches past her bare thighs—a shirt that definitely didn't belong to her. A split second later her brain also registered that there was in fact _nothing_ separating her skin from _said pink shirt_.

"Jesus Christ!" Kate screamed, yanking the fabric down farther over her thighs in an attempt to cover herself more—completely unaware of the dark eyes that were transfixed on the way the shirt was stretched taught over the prominent curve of her backside.

Kate grit her teeth. " _Why_ am I naked and _where_ are my clothes?"

Goku winced at the volume of her voice, and cast a pleading glance over her shoulder before he realized a resigned sigh. "Listen, you were in pretty bad shape when you were found. You were unconscious and evidently most of your clothes were burned off," he said anxiously, giving that same odd look again, his eyes almost pleading.

" _Burned_. _Off_." The words didn't make any sense even as she repeated them, blinking at him blankly. "Why were they _burned off_? What did you all do to me?"

Goku blinked right back at her with an equally dumbfounded look. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"Are you fucking _kidding_ me?" she railed at him in disbelief. "I'm practically naked, surrounded by a bunch of strange men, and you're trying to tell me that you all didn't do anything inappropriate to me?" she hissed furiously.

Goku blinked at her, not grasping her meaning. "Inappropriate? Like what?"

And with that, Kate's patience finally ran out.

"Ugh! You have got to be shitting me right now? You know what I mean!" she snarled clenching her teeth.

"Hey, hold on a second!" Krillen shouted, bursting forward to defend Goku. " _We_ never touched you," he told her pointedly, motioning to himself and the others.

Kate mistook his accusatory glare in her direction as being meant for her, when in fact it was aimed at the figure silently leaning against the wall behind her.

Dark eyes flashed with warning making Krillen swallowed hard, before taking a step back.

Once again mistaking his expression as a being a reaction to her, Kate wondered just how scary her face looked in that moment as her anger went through the roof.

"Do I look stupid to you?" she railed at him. "Somebody obviously put this ridiculous pink shirt on me, so I know at least one of you saw me naked."

Palpable tension suddenly filled the room.

Tien glanced down at Chiaotzu and they traded a look, but neither of them said a word. Krillen continued to glare sulkily, and Yamcha coughed into his fist awkwardly. Piccolo didn't seem to react to anything.

"Hey, being naked is no big deal," Goku laughed awkwardly with a shrug.

Kate stared at him in disbelief. "No big deal? _No big DEAL_?!" she hissed. "Being naked may be no big deal to _you_ , but it's a really big deal to _me_!" she shouted. "Maybe you don't mind going around flashing your dick at people but I'm a chick, and I don't want any of you creeps seeing me naked!" she bellowed angrily. "Now, you answer me right now! Where the fuck am I, and who the hell are you people?"

He blinked at her in confusion. "Well…this is Kame House, and I'm—"

"Yes, you're Goku," she snapped sarcastically, rolling her eyes at him. "That's really fucking cute. I suppose next you're going to tell me that you're really a Super Saiyan, and that he's really a fucking Namekian," she said dismissively, waving an arm at the tall green monster by the door. "Don't give me that bullshit."

Goku turned to blink back at the hulking form she had referred, and met Piccolo's expression of pure shock, which was somehow even more unsettling to Kate than his constant scowling. The flash of his razor sharp fangs when his mouth had popped open nearly made her take another step back. Bit then she'd taken a deep breath, gathering her thoughts, and tried to think rationally about the entire exchange. Other than the stiffness of her muscles, she didn't feel as if she'd been assaulted in any way and none of them had actually tried to hurt her, but still their refusal to step out of character was starting to put her on edge.

Goku finally turned back to gape at her with his head cocked to the side curiously. "How did you know that he's a Namekian?"

For some reason his questioned seemed so ridiculous that Kate found it almost hilarious.

"Wait…is this a joke?" she snorted. "You don't honestly expect me to believe that you're really Dragon Ball Z characters, do you?" She narrowed her eyes at them suspiciously. "Did my sister put you up to this? Is this some sort of a prank?"

They all exchanged shocked glances before Goku looked back at her. "How do you know about the Dragon Balls?"

"Wait a second," Tien said, putting up a hand. "Why did you call us Dragon Ball Z characters?"

Kate scrunched her face in confusion. "That's what you're all dressed as, right? The Z Warriors?"

"Z Warriors?" He exchanged a look with Chiaotzu, before all three of his eyes fell back on her. "What's a Z Warrior?"

She waved a hand at them, becoming more annoyed. "Okay, you guys can drop the act now. I'm not falling for it," she muttered, relaxing enough to put her hands on hips.

Goku scratched the back of his head in confusion. "What act?"

"Okay. Seriously, just _stop_ ," Kate demanded, an edge of panic in her voice as she glanced at the only exit frantically. "You're all really freaking me out now. This isn't funny anymore. You're not really Goku, so _stop_. Goku doesn't really exist. Namekians aren't real. Saiyans aren't _real_ ," she told him belligerently. "I don't know what kind of hardcore role-playing shit you all are into, but I'm officially done playing this little game of make believe with you, so cut it the hell out and tell me where I really am."

Goku heard the hysterical edge of rising panic in her voice. "Listen…" he said carefully, holding up his hands to show her that he meant her no harm. "My name really is Goku, and these are my friends," he said motioning to the others. "You were found unconscious and brought here to Master Roshi's. None of us have done anything to hurt you and we aren't going to, we're just trying to help you, I swear. Please, tell me what can I do to make you believe me?"

She blinked at him stupidly, repeating his question back to him slowly. "What can you do…to make me believe…that you're really Goku?"

He gave her a curt nod.

"You're completely serious aren't you?" she whispered in disbelief.

"Of course I'm serious."

"What do you want me to do? Quiz you or something?" she spat sardonically. "That's ridiculous."

"If that's what it takes," he agreed, spreading his hands wide. "There has to be something I can do that will put you at ease."

"Yeah, sure. I'll humor you," she snorted wryly. "Why don't you just go ahead and pop on those Super Saiyan lights… _Goku._ "

He blinked at her in surprise. "Why has everyone been asking me to go Super Saiyan today?" he mused quietly.

"Oh, wait. Let me guess…you can't," Kate muttered drolly, rolling her eyes.

He tilted his head awkwardly, seeming embarrassed. "Well, yeah, I mean…I can, but…"

She narrowed her eyes at him irritably. "Bullshit. Don't patronize me. I'm exhausted, my muscles literally feel like I've been beat all to hell with a baseball bat, this whole charade is making me feel nauseous, and I'm actually starting to get pissed. So, _stop._ Stop pretending like—"

There was a sudden flare of light making her squint, and an invisible pulse blew out like a wave of energy, and suddenly swirling gusts of wind came out of nowhere blowing her hair out around her. Once her eyes adjusted, the flare of light dimmed, revealing Goku where he stood—glowing brightly, his hair having burst into a pale golden flame, staring at her with eyes the color of blazing Caribbean waters…

And all the blood drained from Kate's face.

"That…that…that's impossible," she croaked, her voice barely a whisper as she swallowed hard, trying to comprehend what she was seeing. "You can't really be a…a Super Saiyan," she whispered hoarsely and suddenly her legs felt unsteady as she watched the power die away, Goku's hair and eyes darkening once again. "This can't be real. _You_ can't be real."

She was suddenly in dire need of something to hold onto.

Backing up Kate stumbled slightly on wobbly legs and bumped flush against something that she realized was clearly not the wall she had been expecting. It was hard, but it was also very, very warm…and it had grunted at her.

"Get off of me, woman," growled a low gruff voice from behind her.

Whirling around, another scream died in her throat and her heart lurched in her chest when she came face to face with another man that she had failed o notice before. He stood stoic and brooding, arms crossed, leaning against the wall and his dark eyes lined with thick lashes were locked on her, glaring ominously as his face morphed into an even deeper scowl, only making his sharp widows peak all the more prominent.

Kate's mind flew, trying to reason everything in her head, because if the other guy was really Goku, then that meant…

…that standing before her was the Saiyan Prince himself.

Involuntarily her eyes lowered to the white sleeveless top that hugged the rippling muscles of his chest and stomach like a second skin, accentuating his sculpted arms where they were crossed over his torso.

"What are you staring at?" he sneered, his lips pulling into an arrogant smirk. "See something you like?"

That's when her eyes fell to the pink shirt she was wearing, before they flew back to the white undershirt—which she had only glimpsed him wearing once before in the anime…peeking out beneath a very memorable pink garment.

Kate gasped, her eyes flying back to his face. "Am I wearing your fucking shirt?"

"What?" The question had actually caught Vegeta off guard, his brows jutting up, as his arms went slack in surprise. How did the damn woman know that it was his shirt?

She ignored him, stretching to look over her shoulder, sweeping the long tangle of loose curls out of the way as she tugged the fabric until she could read the words 'BAD MAN' scrawled across the back.

" _Oh my God_ ," she gasped, her eyes going wide. "This _is_ your shirt. Why in the hell am I wearing your goddamn pink shirt?" she demanded, whirling back around to gape up at him, and when the shock on his face morphed into another deep scowl, realization suddenly hit her.

If he'd been standing behind her the whole time that she'd been railing at the others, then Krillen's reactions suddenly made so much more sense. He hadn't been scared of _her_ , he'd been scared of Vegeta.

"You jackass!" Kate hissed, yanking the shirt down angrily. "You've been standing behind me this whole time and you didn't say anything?" she shrieked. "Did you enjoy the show, you lecherous bastard?"

"Woman, you don't interest me in the slightest!" Vegeta seethed indignantly, his face flushing slightly as his hands balled into fists at his side. "I put the shirt over you so I wouldn't have to look at your hideous body!"

"Clearly you don't think it's _that_ hideous, otherwise you wouldn't have just stood there staring as my ass without saying anything!" she threw back at him, and his face bloomed bright scarlet. "That's what I thought!" she sneered.

"Kakarot," Vegeta snapped, shooting an icy glare over her shoulder. "Come get this woman before I kill her. She's clearly deranged."

Without a single sound of warning, Goku was across the room catching Kate by the elbow, gently trying to pull her away, and his sudden grip on her arm made her flinch.

"Hey, it's just me," told her gently, but she jerked her arm free, still panicked by the sight of him.

"Clearly the woman is frightened of you, Kakarot," Vegeta sneered in amusement. "Though, I have no idea why she'd be scared of a pathetic weakling that's incapable of restraining a mere girl?"

The panic in Kate was instantly washed away once his words registered, replaced by the overwhelming urge to suddenly punch Vegeta in his smug Saiyan face.

"First of all…" she hissed, wheeling around to shoving a finger in Vegeta's face. "I'm not scared of him—or you for that matter, _Vegeta_!" she snapped, glaring up at him, and it wiped the smug smirk right off of his face. "And secondly, if he's such a weakling then how come he keeps having to save your sorry ass, you arrogant jerk?"

Rage was suddenly boiling behind Vegeta's eyes. "How dare you!" he snarled, taking a menacing step forward, but she didn't budge, going toe-to-toe with him as his hands balled into fists at his sides. "Do you know who you're talking to? I'm the Prince—"

"Yeah, yeah, Prince of all Saiyans, I've heard the whole spiel before," Kate muttered in bored voice, waving him off as she rolled her eyes. "Elite soldier. Legendary warrior. Destroyer of worlds. Blah, blah, blah—pride. Blah, blah, blah—asshole. Blah, blah, blah—Super Saiyan God. I know who you are, so you can spare me the bravado," she muttered, glaring up at him.

Her words instantly distracted him from his anger.

"What…did you just call me?" Vegeta breathed in a stunned voice, and for a second she thought his eyes were actually going to pop out of his egotistical head.

Just as Kate was revving up to start smarting off to him again, Goku carefully tried to pry her back a few steps, and this time she let him.

"Okay…both of you take a breath," he ordered them gently. "I think you're probably still in shock from everything," he said to Kate as he pulled her gently onto the edge of the mattress.

"I don't know, Goku…" Piccolo finally spoke in a deep booming voice, eyeing her suspiciously. "I would say that if she's yelling at Vegeta then she seems coherent enough to me—that is, if she were actually making any sense."

That voice, coming from Piccolo's big, green, hulking body make Kate's insides liquify —partially in fear, but mostly in awe.

"Jesus Christ, I must have hit my head when I fell," she muttered covering her eyes with shaking hands. "I have to be hallucinating all of this shit. This can't be happening."

"Woman!" Vegeta hissed impatiently, making her look up. "I demand to know what you meant when you called me a Super Saiyan God."

Kate blinked at him in disbelief. "I beg your pardon?"

A low growl rumbled from deep within his chest. "You're trying my patience, woman! Don't play dumb."

She scowled at him. "Listen _asshole_ , I just woke up in a strange place, I have no idea how I got here, and you're grilling me for information about _your_ power? Are you seriously that fucking full of yourself?"

"Everybody just calm down," Goku said sternly, shooting Vegeta a look when he opened his mouth to respond. "Let's just take a moment and try to figure out what's going on here." He glanced at Kate then, and spoke in a calm voice. "Now…why don't we start with your name."

"My name?" she mumbled stupidly.

"You do have a name don't you, woman?" Vegeta sneered.

Kate's gaze snapped right back to him. "If you don't cool it with that attitude, buddy, I'm going to smack the shit out of you," she threatened in a low voice.

He snorted at that. "I'd like to see you try."

She lunged at him, but Goku quickly snatched her around the waist just as she took a swing, pulling her back onto the edge of the mattress. "Guys, cool it!" he bade them gently, his palm on her shoulder, holding her in place.

Kate's blood boiled when Vegeta smirked triumphantly.

"You should have kept your shirt. Pink is a good color for a pansy like you," she sneered and once again it wiped his smug smirk right off his face.

"Vegeta, cut it out!" Goku barked angrily. "I'm serious."

They both continued to glare daggers at one another, and for a second she debated saying something else. The retort was on the tip of her tongue, but she thought better of it, deciding that she had much more important things to focus on at that very moment rather than provoking another one of the Saiyan Prince's temper tantrums.

"Now…your name," Goku said in a softer voice.

"My name is Kathryn," she muttered stiffly, refusing to break eye contact with Vegeta as she watched him distrustfully. "My friends call me Kate."

That arrogant smirk slid across his lips again and when she felt Goku's grip on her shoulder go slack she considered lunging at Vegeta's smug face again, but Goku's voice stopped her.

"Kathryn…" Goku repeated her name in an odd way. "Do you remember how you got here?"

His question caught her off guard, making her peer over at him as she tried to remember. She rewound her memories trying to piece them together.

"I…" Kate furrowed her brows trying to concentrate. "I…I'd just gotten home from a convention with my friends…I remember the drive back…" She shook her head when the images became fuzzy, and oddly difficult to focus on. "I remember walking out of the garage and I heard a noise—this strange…whirling sound—I think it was coming from the woods that run along the edge of my house." She clenched her eyes shut, trying to stretch her mind to recall the memory. "I followed it. I didn't know what it was because I'd never heard anything like it before, and just beyond the tree line, I saw this light…"

There was a flash of memories bathed in blue light making her suck in a sharp breath, trembling suddenly when it all flooded back in one violent onslaught.

"Then the ground just…opened up beneath me and I fell," Kate whispered, as the fear from the memory filled her. "I fell into this blue fire—it was everywhere—all around me, and electricity on my skin…" She blinked back the burn of tears in her eyes. "And then I was here. I woke up here. That's all I remember," she whispered in a hoarse voice.

"Hey, it's okay. You're safe here." Goku said in a soothing tone as he rubbed her back gently, and she suddenly realized that she was shaking.

Safe… _here_?

Kate leaned away, eyeing him warily. "But I can't be here, this isn't real," she argued shaking her head. "None of you are even real!" she told him vehemently. "Don't you get it? You're just characters in a TV show for crying out loud! You're just drawings that somebody made up!" she cried, shooting to her feet to put some space between them.

They were all staring at her as if she had grown a third head, until Vegeta's laughter broke the silence.

"Clearly the girl hit her head and the blow has addled her brain," he sneered in amusement.

"I'll prove it!" Kate declared in a determined voice, scanning the room desperately. "My pack—where's my backpack?" she demanded, tugging the shirt down as she crawled across the mattress before dropping to the floor on one knee to search beneath the edge of the bed. "I had it on me when I fell."

"I set it by the door," Goku told her.

When Kate poked her head back up, Goku's face was guarded as he stared at something beyond her, nodding. She turned, expecting to see her pack on the floor by the door, but she was met by the sight of Piccolo blocking her path, her grey canvas bag dangling by one long green finger as he peered at it warily.

He glanced at her suspiciously before his eyes shifted over her shoulder to Goku, and they both exchanged a look, nodding once before he finally relented, offering it to her. Hesitantly getting to her feet, Kate took a careful step towards him, noting the way his deep emerald eyes watched her distrustfully.

"Thank you, Piccolo," she said softly, accepting the bag from him, and was rewarded with the look of surprise that flashed across his face.

"How do you know my name?" His low growl made her take a step back.

"I know all of your names," she told him, glancing at the other Z Warriors. "Krillin, Tien, Chiaotzu, Yamcha—"

The words died on her lips when her eyes landed on the young, dark-haired boy that she had failed to notice until that moment. He was staring up at her with wide curious eyes, the epitome of innocence, and Kate's mind was suddenly flying as she tried to pinpoint her place in their timeline.

"Gohan…? Wait…you're still a child?" She whirled to stare at the two Saiyans watching her from across the room, her eyes darting from Goku, to where Vegeta still stood scowling at her. "Vegeta is here…so that means that you already beat Frieza and that Namek has been destroyed." Her eyes shifted back to Goku. "But Goku is alive—"

Low murmurs of alarm erupted around the room.

"How do you know about Frieza?" Vegeta bellowed, his body tensing.

"Like I said," she reminded him, gritting her teeth as she set her pack on the end of the bed, "I know all about you guys from the show," she muttered, unzipping the bag. "I know about Frieza, and how Goku went Super Saiyan after Krillen was murdered."

Kate rifled through it's contents in search of the DVD cases that she'd packed inside, as she simultaneously sorted through the show in her head, trying to arrange a chain of events in order. After all, she knew that Gohan was much too young to have defeated Cell already.

"Then you all wished Krillen back after Namek was destroyed, and Goku was lost in space—" She paused, glancing up at Goku suddenly. "Wait…you're here, and Gohan is still so young. So…did you all already fight the androids?" she asked in confusion.

"You know about the androids!" Gohan's small voice gasped in childlike awe.

"Wow," Goku laughed awkwardly, ruffling the back of his head, "You're really well informed."

"Too well informed," Yamcha muttered sourly, making her turn to look at him where he stood between Krillen and Tien, speaking up for the first time. "How is it that you know about the androids when we only found out about them today?"

Kate froze. "Did you say today?" she whispered in a strangled voice.

Yamcha eyed her worriedly suddenly. "Hey are you okay? You look like you're going to be sick."

She barely registered his words. "He came today?"

"Who are you talking about?" Yamache asked in bewilderment.

"The boy from the future."

The air in the entire room shifted suddenly, a wave of confusion and shock flashing across each of their faces as they stared at her in stunned silence.

Then a small voice broke it. "Hey, how do you know about that?"

Kate glanced down to find Gohan staring up, his wide innocent eyes bright with wonder, and she crouched carefully until she was eye level with him.

"Tell me, the boy you saw, was he also able to turn into a Super Saiyan like your dad?" she asked softly.

"Uh-huh!" Gohan's eyes lit up, nodding, and she didn't miss Vegeta's low grunt of annoyance at that statement. "He was amazing, he even—"

"Destroyed Frieza and his father, effortlessly," Kate finished his sentence in a detached voice. "Yes. I know."

"You know about that?" Krillen said in a shocked voice, and when she glanced at him seeing the alarm on his face, she realized suddenly that she had to be careful what she told them.

"I know that he came from the future to warn you about the androids," she said.

"How do you know all of this?" Yamcha demanded. "Do you know that guy or something? Are you from the future too?"

Kate shook her head, sighing, as she stood to begin digging through her bag again. "No. I keep telling you all—I already know everything about you all because I've already seen it. Every battle you all have ever fought together, every battle that has yet to come. I already know what happened today, because I've seen it already." She stared at the orange cases in her hands as she pulled them from her bag, sorting through them. "The boy, did he have purple hair like this?" she asked, showing Gohan the orange case with Trunks on the cover.

"Yeah, that's him!" Gohan answered excitedly.

Kate raised the box to show the others. "This contains discs with the episodes of the TV show I was telling you about. In my world, that's what you all are—a fairytale. Just a cartoon my sister and I used to watch on TV when we were kids—we weren't much older than you are now," she said glancing at Gohan.

"Do we look like cartoons to you?" Piccolo growled.

Kate eyed the smooth green skin that ran over his well muscled arms. "No…you don't," she said, swallowing hard as she raised her eyes up to blink at him matter-of-factly. "You look very, very real to me. Which means…" she swallowed hard, looking away, "either I'm lying unconscious somewhere, with a severe brain injury, and I'm hallucinating all of this…or I really fell through a some sort of rip in reality that transported me here—where fictional creatures are real…" she gulped in panic, before the hem of fabric that brushed her thighs caught her attention. "At least that explains the pink shirt," she muttered.

"Woman, that has to be the most ridiculous garbage I have ever heard," Vegeta sneered pulling her from thoughts—his haughty tone grating on her very last nerve. "I am a Saiyan warrior, not some figment of your imagination. Don't presume that your feeble mind could even contemplate the complexity of me or my race."

Yep, her tolerance level had finally reached zero—as in, the number of fucks she gave about pissing him off at that very moment.

"You know…" Kate sighed in disappointment, sinking to sit on edge of the mattress as she ran trembling fingers through her hair. "I thought your whole macho, arrogance thing would be sort of charming," she said smartly, as she tilted her head over her shoulder to blink at him. "But you're actually _really_ fucking annoying," she snapped, her piercing gaze pinning him with a glare. "I seriously don't know how the others can stand listening to you talk all the goddamn time. I mean, do you just like listening to the sound of your own voice, or do you honestly believe your own hype? 'Cause you aren't impressing _me_ , Vegeta," she told him, putting a hand to her chest. "I know _way_ too much shit about you."

Never in his life had anyone dared to speak to him in such a way, nonetheless a woman, and Vegeta's ire skyrocketed.

"You know nothing about me, woman!" he snarled between clenched teeth, the muscles in his arms bulging as he clenched his fists at his side, and for a second she almost let her eyes graze over his body in appreciation. The livid look of fury that filled his face probably should have scared her, but she was pretty sure that the shock was finally setting in, making her brave…or suicidal.

"I know enough," she muttered snidely, turning her face aside dismissively.

"Clearly you don't," he spat in cold voice. "Because if you did, then you would have the good sense to be fearing for your life after speaking to me with such disrespect, woman."

" _Really_?" Kate wheeled around to pin him with a hard look, twisting her whole body to face him. "Are you sure about that?" she raised a brow in challenge, and the blue fire in her eyes made him hesitate for a second. "You might want to be careful what you start with me, Prince," she warned him, "the things I know about you might fatally wound your sensitive Saiyan ego."

"You dare threaten me?" he snarled, fists straining as his jaw clenched.

"It's not a threat…it's a certainty," Kate said coldly. "I know that you're a proud warrior of the Saiyan race, an elite fighter and heir to the throne—made proud and arrogant by your title and status among your people—but _don't push me_ , Vegeta," she warned him. "I'm seriously not in the mood to deal with your egotistical bullshit right now, and I will bring up painful things from your past right here, right now, in front of everyone, if you don't _back_ , the _fuck_ , _off_."

Vegeta seethed silently, his chest heaving as rage burned in his eyes, but Kate caught the twinge of fear that flashed in them.

"Don't you dare to presume to know a damn thing about my life, woman!"

He just didn't know when to fucking quit evidently, and Kate was on her feet glaring at him then.

"I know things about your past that even you don't know, Vegeta!" she hissed, pointing a finger at him in warning. "I could easily use that information to prove that everything I've said is true, but I would prefer to not stoop that low. So if you don't curb your fucking attitude, you will leave me no choice but to cross a line that you are sorely going to regret, by making an example of you, so as I said before— _don't_ , _push_ , _me_."

She could see him weighing his next words carefully, the room deathly quiet as the fury continued to swell behind his eyes, and she knew he was reaching a boiling point. His conclusion was inevitable—before Vegeta even opened his mouth Kate knew that he was never going to back down—it wasn't in his nature to concede defeat. He wasn't going to stop trying to bully her into submission…but she had never cowered before any man, and she wasn't about to start.

"There is nothing you could possibly know about my past—"

"I know what really happened when your father handed you over to Frieza," she snapped quickly, cutting him off.

Vegeta actually choked, her words having the same effects as a swift kick to the gut, and he paled instantly.

"You loved your father—"

"Shut your mouth!" He spit the words in an icy tone from between his teeth as he seared her with a violent glare. How dare she speak of his father in such a casual way.

"No!" she shouted back at him. "You wanted to fucking push me? Well, this is what you get!" Kate told him, spreading her arms wide. "A nice healthy dose of the cold, hard truth for once. I'm not going to tiptoe around your vanity like the others, Vegeta. If you want to be an arrogant, self-centered prick, then deal with the fucking consequences. Consequences like the truth for once in your miserable life," she railed at him. "And the truth is, you loved your father—though it's unusual for Saiyans to have such strong familial bonds, you did, and it has always haunted you how he could just hand you over to a monster like Frieza when you were only just a boy."

"I'm warning you, woman!" Vegeta snarled, his whole body going rigid, but Kate didn't miss the flash of pain in his eyes.

"Frieza was no fool, Vegeta," she told him in a softer voice. "Even with the entire Saiyan race at his feet, he feared your legends about the Super Saiyan warrior, and once Frieze saw the extent of your growing power, he soon realized the kind of threat you could one day be to him. He tried to force your father to prove his loyalty, by ordering him to have you executed."

Vegeta was so stunned that his anger was forgotten as his mind raced at the implications of what she was saying. He'd never heard Frieza issue such a decree to his father. She had to be lying.

"Your father loved you, Vegeta," Kate told him gently, her chest aching at the way his eyes filled with grief. "He tried to reason with Frieza, but Frieza threatened to destroy your entire planet if the king did not relinquish his only son and heir to be butchered. Desperate to save the life of the son he prized above all else, he bargained with Frieza—offering to let him take you instead, on the condition that he spare your life, hoping to avoid the enslavement of his people in the process. Your father was was no fool obviously, he knew that Frieza feared the power of the Saiyan Empire, and it wouldn't be long before he would attempt to eliminate the threat to his stronghold over your planet, but by giving you to him, he tried to buy enough time to plan a mutiny."

Vegeta tried to look away but Kate could still see the way his face etched with pain as a war waged behind his eyes.

"Though, in truth, the only thing that mattered to your father…was _you,_ " she murmured. "After all, you were all he had left. He put your life above that of his own people."

Vegeta flew at her so fast that Kate never saw him move until he was glaring down at her with a rage unlike any she had ever seen before.

"I warned you once, woman," he seethed, his voice low and dark with warning. "Speak another word and I will kill you where you stand."

Kate stared up into the depths of his violent gaze, and saw the grief hidden behind his eyes—the haunted look of a little boy who had been abandoned.

It made her brave.

"It wasn't your fault, Vegeta," she whispered.

Vegeta's head jerked back as Kate's words pierced through him. "W-what?"

"It wasn't your fault," she repeated softly. "Frieza was a vile plague upon the universe—death and destruction followed him everywhere he went. He prized power and control. There was nothing you did wrong to set his sights on you. You have to stop blaming yourself for what happened. I know that Frieza threatened to kill your father if you didn't obey him, but he had leveraged you both against each other—threatening to kill you if your father dared to rise up against him. You were just a little boy when Frieza took you—you couldn't have known, but there was nothing you could have done to save your father or your world," she murmured. "Your father's death wasn't your fault."

Her words were like knives, chipping away at him—prying open the cage that he'd locked his pain away in long ago. He'd never been able to even admit his own guilt to himself, and now it was pouring through him, drowning him—a lifetime of shame and resentment washing to the surface.

Vegeta couldn't move, rooted to the spot, paralyzed and unable to stop her as her hands suddenly reached up to cradle his face in her palms, her strange bright eyes swimming with an emotion he did not recognize, as they darted between his, slowly watching the fire in his gaze die away.

"You have to forgive yourself for that—and your father, for what was done to you," Kate told him, dipping her face to make sure his eyes were locked on hers. "As long as you were spared—as long as you were safe, your father knew that the Saiyan bloodline would not be destroyed. Not as long as you lived. He did the only thing he could do when he gave you to Frieza—he protected the only thing he loved—he protected his son. You."

Vegeta clenched his eyes shut, and swallowed against the choking sensation in his throat, as his mind fought against the grief welling inside of him. He didn't understand what was happening. He was the Prince of all Saiyans after all—a fearless warrior—not some simpering fool prone to pathetic human emotions. How could mere words affect him so deeply?

"It wasn't your fault, Vegeta," Kate told him again. "He convinced Frieza that you would be an asset to his guard, seeing as how since you were a child you had proven yourself to be a ruthless killer—merciless. A lethal assassin. Frieza saw the wisdom in this. After all, you were young—impressionable still—able to be molded into a weapon to do Frieza's bidding, and if manipulated correctly he would have a new Saiyan king, loyal only to him."

"Woman, how can you…know this?" Vegeta choked, his voice rough and thick with pain.

"I told you, I know all about you, and what Frieza did to you and your people, Vegeta," Kate replied. "You were just a boy, forced into a life of bloodshed and carnage—never given the chance to be anything other that what Frieza tried to turn you into. Your father couldn't have known the things that Frieza would do to you, Vegeta—after all, he had no intention of leaving you in the hands of that monster. Why do you think Frieza killed him?" she whispered staring up at him, desperately.

Vegeta's mind rebelled against the sudden gut-wrecking sensation in his stomach. How could the woman speak of things that were slowly shredding him to pieces on then inside with such…tenderness in her voice?

"I know you think that it was because of you, but it wasn't," Kate continued. "You're father boarded Frieza's ship with every intention of killing him before he could leave with you. He was there to rescue you, Vegeta, and it cost him his life."

"That's not _true!_ " Vegeta snarled between his teeth, clenching his eyes tighter.

He tried to lean away, but he couldn't force his body to pull away from her hands, as if she had some sort of magnetic hold on him, keeping him in place.

"My father was on the planet when it was destroyed."

"No, he _wasn't_ ," Kate argued, and Vegeta's eyes flew open in shock. "He and his closest guards feigned the pretense of requesting an audience with Frieza so that some of his soldiers could slip away to find you while he distracted Frieza, but someone had warned Frieza about your father's true intentions, and so they never even had a chance. It would have done him little good anyway, seeing as how you weren't even on the ship. Frieza had sent you off on a solo mission for this exact reason. When your father realized this, he attacked Frieza himself, but he was no match for him. He gave his life trying to save you, and you can't blame yourself for that."

Vegeta's gaze was locked on the burning blue of her eyes, unable to look away as her words sunk in.

He'd never felt so raw in his entire life.

His calloused fingers reached up to weakly curl around her delicate wrists, intending to rip her hands off of him, but instead he ended up clinging to her as he fought the urge to vomit. This tiny human woman was tearing everything he thought he knew apart—ripping his memories to shreds with her gentle fingers on his skin, and her devastating words ringing in his ears. He'd never understood before why his father had just handed him over without a fight, because he'd never been told a version of the truth that had made any sense, but her words did—deep down in the marrow of his bones.

He could still remember the moment he'd received the news. Staring blankly into the campfire, his scouter had beeped, and as he chewed on a haunch of burnt meat from one of the creatures he'd killed during the planet purge, a crackling transmission informed him that his planet, and the entire Saiyan race—including his father—were gone. For a moment there had been nothing. A blank moment where everything had stopped. A moment where he understood everything. The voice on the other end of his scouter had asked for a reply, but he had nothing to say.

He was alone.

Kate watched pain flood Vegeta's dark eyes. He looked like was drowning.

"I promise you, Vegeta, Your father never intended to let Frieza keep you, he would have died before leaving you in the hands of that monster. He said so himself," she told him softly, but Vegeta didn't even seem to be listening. "He did everything in his power to protect you, and though he failed to rescue you from Frieza, he succeeded in sparing your life. Your father had no idea the nightmare your life would become."

Vegeta's eyes shifted—barely.

"I know sometimes you still wake up screaming," Kate whispered.

He ripped away from her then, stumbling back.

"That's a lie!" he hissed.

Kate tilted her head, blinking at him pointedly. "Is it?"

Vegeta could only gape at her in horror.

"There is innocent blood on your hands, Prince of all Saiyans," Kate told him in a grave voice. "Countless planets, billions of innocent lives turned to ash at your hands. Men, women and children. Innocents. Blood spilt of your own free will. Even the blood of your own people. Raditz whom you discarded as a weakling, and Nappa slain by your own hand. For all your Saiyan pride—despite your strength—your arrogance and your obsession with power made you weak. It allowed Frieza to twist your soul into a ruthless monster—warped your heart, turned it into beating stone—making you cold, and hard, and almost unfeeling at all. The only Saiyans left in existence, and you attempted to snuff them out. It was your sworn duty as their Prince to protect your people, Vegeta. _Your_ people, and you let them _die_."

Vegeta stared back at her in horror. Surely she was a demon sent to torment him. She couldn't know those things—it was impossible.

"Speak no more, woman!" he snarled, covering his ears as if in immense pain.

Kate stared at him sorrowfully. "Deep down you're haunted by the monster Frieza turned you into, I can see it in your eyes, Vegeta."

She went to him then, taking his face in her hands and forcing him to look at her.

"You told Goku as much, when you lay there dying on Namek, remember?" she asked him. "Frieza stripped you of your honor, and your freedom. He destroyed your home and was responsible for the genocide of your entire world. He turned you into a monster just like him. I know that sometimes when you look in the mirror, all you can see is Frieza staring back at you. I know when you sleep, you can still hear them screaming, Vegeta—all the lives you took. You're haunted by the nightmare of their screams as they burned alive, the same way your people did at Frieza's hands."

"Woman, no more…" he said, clenching his eyes shut as he weakly tried to turn away, but she held him in place.

"But you are _not_ Frieza, Vegeta. There is still honor in you—I know there is," Kate whispered fiercely. "And the only way he can take that from you now is if waste this second chance that you've been given."

Vegeta's eyes slid open to stare at her with the broken gaze of a lost little boy.

"Here still beats the heart of a Saiyan warrior," she pressed her right palm to his chest. "And no one can ever take that from you—not even Frieza."

For the first time since she'd begun shouting at him, Kate could suddenly feel her own heart pounding violently in her chest as she stared up into his eyes. They were so close that she could sense the heat of his skin through his clothes, all the way down the line of her body. Even as warning bells began going off inside her head, she couldn't make herself stop. She didn't want to stop.

"Frieza is dead, Vegeta, and he can't hurt you anymore," Kate told him tenderly. "The once great Saiyan Empire has been reduced to the three of you in this room, right now," she said, motioning to Goku and Gohan as an excuse to take a step back. "Because of Goku, no Saiyan will ever die at Frieza's hands ever again. He and his son are the only family you have left, Vegeta. Can't you see that?"

The Saiyan Prince shook his head in denial.

"Let go of your hate, Vegeta," she implored him.

He grit his teeth, trying to fight the swirl of emotion welling in him.

"I… _can't_ ," he spat out, trying once again to pull away, but Kate held her ground. She wasn't going to give up on him—she couldn't. Not when she knew that he could be so much more.

"Yes, you can! You are the Prince of all Saiyans, and you bend to the will of _no creature_ , even your own pride!" Kate told him fiercely, and Vegeta's eyes sparked with life again, flashing wide as he stared at her. "Don't let it chain you! Let go of your hate, Vegeta. Let go of your hate and don't waste this chance at redemption that you have been given and one day…the nightmares will fade," she promised him. "One day you won't wake up with the sound of dying screams still ringing in your ears. Let go of your hate and your rage, and one day, all that Frieza did to you and your people will be undone through the two of you. With his help you can atone for your sins and restore the honor of your people."

Vegeta drowned in the swirling aqua of her eyes, and it was the way she seemed to be staring right through him—beyond him—that unnerved him.

"How?" he whispered warily.

"Be the hero that I know you will one day become, and you will ascend to the rank of a Super Saiyan God."

There was that phrase again. _Super Saiyan God._ Vegeta couldn't even begin to fathom her meaning as his eyes locked unflinchingly on hers, but her words still rang mockingly in his head.

"I have seen it with my own eyes," Kate assured him, against her better judgement. "I have seen the great man that you could one day become, and I'm begging you Vegeta—for your sake, and for the sake of the billions of lives I know you will one day save… _don't_ _waste_ _this_."

The room was deathly silent as Kate and Vegeta remained frozen staring at one another. Goku and the others had been watching them both, stunned and speechless by her words, but mostly astounded by the fact that Vegeta looked like she had shredded his pride all to hell with mere words. Aside from Bulma, they had never seen anyone speak to him so brazenly, but even more bizarre was the girl's intimate knowledge of Vegeta's past. It had them all wondering suddenly if everything she had said was the truth, and how that knowledge would affect the Saiyan Prince.

Kate on the other hand already knew it was foolish to expect her words to make a difference to Vegeta. If there was one thing she was sure of, it was that Vegeta was not a man who could be won over by sentiment or nostalgia. Those sort of things just didn't have the same effect on him as they did with normal people—normal people those who didn't have the emotional capacity of a swamp rock. Still, she had hoped, even if only for a moment, but she knew the inevitable moment would come when he would pull away.

Sure enough, it came.

All at once she watched the softness in his eyes harden and ice over once again as he came to his senses. The spell her words had cast over him broke—just as she knew it eventually would.

Vegeta glared at her venomously and leaned in close. "Save your pity and your righteous speeches, woman. I have no need of them," he snarled shoving away from her roughly. "And stay the hell away from me!"

With that, he stormed past her, fleeing from the room quickly, in a hurry to be free of that damned demon woman.

Kate stared after him, her heart still pounding.

"Well, shit," she sighed, with a helpless shrug. "It was worth a shot."

She laughed nervously then as she looked back to the others to find them all staring at her with alternating expressions of disbelief and some with outright horror.

Krillen was the first one brave enough to speak.

"So…do you know this kind of stuff about _all_ of us?" he asked nervously.

"Why?" Kate grinned slyly at him. "Do you have a bunch of deep dark secrets that you don't want the others to know about, Krillen?" she teased him with a wink.

"No, of course not!" he chuckled awkwardly.

Kate rolled her eyes.

"Relax, I'm just messing with you," she laughed. "To be honest, half of that stuff about Vegeta was mere conjecture, but judging by his reaction I wasn't that far off the mark." She frowned at that, glancing at the doorway. "I didn't mean to get so carried away though. I told him to stop pushing me," she glowered, staring at the floor. "I gave him fair warning that he wouldn't like what I said, but he just, wouldn't, stop. I don't get how you all can stand him sometimes," she said, making a face at them.

"Ah, he's not so bad," Goku laughed.

"Speak for yourself," Yamcha muttered.

"Sure he's a little rough around the edges, but he's never exactly been much of a people person," Goku admitted ruefully before his eyes shifted back to her. "So you really know all about that stuff he told me back on Namek," he mused softly. "Man, I never knew Vegeta had it so rough growing up. Frieza was a monster. I can't imagine what that must have been like for him."

"I'm sure he wouldn't appreciate your sympathy," Kate muttered.

"No, probably not," he chuckled.

"Imagine what he would have been like if he'd come to earth as baby like you did, Goku," she told him pointedly. "He might not have turned out so bad if he had."

"Huh, I never thought of that," Goku responded, seeming stumped as he thought on that before his eyes focused back on her. "So you really do know all about us? You even know about things that haven't happened yet?"

Kate thought about that, frowning suddenly.

"Yes, and I really shouldn't be revealing anything to you all about your future. In fact…I shouldn't even be here. If this all real, and I'm not actually just hallucinating this entire things, who knows what kind of irreparable damage my presence here could cause you all. Don't get me wrong, I'm completely honored to have met all of you, but you have to take me back to where you found me so that I can try to get back home," she told him adamantly.

Goku shifted awkwardly. "That's going to be kind of difficult," he said with a nervous chuckle.

Her brows furrowed in confusion. "What? Why?"

His mouth twisted to one side reluctantly. "Well, I'm not the one who found you…Vegeta is."

Kate blinked at him in disbelief and then her eyes flew in horror to the empty doorway where Vegeta has disappeared, staring at it as realization slowly sank in.

" _Fuck_!" she hissed loudly. "Of course he is. Of course _that_ asshole found me," she railed, rolling her eyes to the ceiling. "That's just my fucking luck."

It was like an after effect, when Goku's words finally registered with her.

"Wait…" Kate slowly looked back at him. " _Vegeta_ found me?"

"Uh, yeah," Goku nodded.

"And he brought me here, to you?" She continued, raising a skeptical brow at him.

Goku pointed at her chest then. "It's why you're wearing his shirt. You were wearing it when he showed up here with you."

Kate's eyes fell to the pink fabric, going wide. "But _why_? Why would he even bother?"

"I don't know," Goku laughed nervously, "I didn't even think to ask him when he showed up with you in his arms."

Kate rolled her eyes. "Of course you didn't."

"Listen, you had char marks all over your legs and arms so I thought you were hurt pretty bad. My first concern was making sure that you were okay."

Kate glanced down at her arms and legs in confusion. There weren't any marks at all.

"All Vegeta told me was that he found you in the middle of nowhere and that you'd come out of some sort of portal," Goku explained. "That's all I know. He didn't say how you got burned, or why he'd given you his shirt, so I just assumed from what I saw."

Kate eyed him carefully. "Did he tell you where the portal was?"

"No."

Kate's hopes visibly plummeted.

"Great," she muttered. "And since I've royally ticked off Captain Asshole, I'm probably stuck here," she said, paling slightly at the thought.

"Hey, don't worry, we'll help you figure this out."

Goku looked to the others.

"Right guys?"

They didn't look as enthused as Goku sounded—save for Gohan who was smiling up at Kate brightly.

"Right!" he exclaimed happily.

Kate grinned in response, ruffling his hair playfully, earning her one of his adorable little giggles.

Yamcha stepped forward then. "I'm sure that my girlfriend wouldn't mind you staying at her place until we can figure out how to get you home—and hey! Maybe she can help with that too!" he stated proudly. "She's a scientist."

"You're talking about Bulma, right?"

Yamcha's brows shot up. "Huh? You know about her too?"

Kate raised a brow at him. "Isn't Vegeta also staying at Capsule Corp?" she asked pointedly.

"Oh…yeah. I sort of forgot about that," Yamaha said sheepishly.

"Lovely," she muttered. "Well, at least Bulma probably has the technology to play these discs, so she can prove to you all that I'm not making any of this up."

"There's no need for that," Goku assured her kindly. "We believe you."

"Speak for yourself," Piccolo muttered.

Kate shot him a dirty look. "Can't you like…I don't know, sense if I'm telling the truth or not? Isn't that one of you Namekian abilities or something?"

"I'm not a mind reader," he snorted derisively.

She squinted at him skeptically. "How can Kami be all-seeing, but not you if you're basically the same person? Does that have something to do with the whole Guardian of the Earth thing?"

Piccolo blinked at her with wide eyes before his gaze slid to Goku. "I don't like any of this."

"Oh, c'mon Piccolo," Gohan laughed, making them both turn to him where he was smiling up at Namekian. "I think it's sort of cool that she knows so much stuff about us."

Piccolo eyed Kate suspiciously, and she raised her hands innocently.

"Listen, I know this must be really strange for you all. Just think how bizarre it must be for _me_. I'm serious when I say that on my Earth, you all are just cartoon characters. You've seen a TV before right? You know what cartoons are?"

"Yes, I know what cartoons are," he muttered grumpily.

"Well, you all are kind of famous where I come from. I'm talking millions of people—maybe billions, and they all adore you all." Kate tentatively stretched out her hand to offer it to him. "And I'm one of them."

Piccolo narrowed his eyes at it distrustfully.

"Like I said, I consider it an honor to meet you all," she told him.

He slowly unfolded his arms from his chest to wrap his large green hand around hers, and she noted that it was strangely cool to the touch.

"I trust the kid," he explained. "And if he trusts you, then I guess that's good enough for me."

Kate beamed up at him, shaking his hand gently. "Well that's a start."

He smirked at that, slowly letting go to fold his arms back across his chest.

"Now…" she said, grinning wryly, clapping her hands together sheepishly when she suddenly remembered her attire. "Are there pants somewhere around here that I can put on? 'Cause this whole mostly naked thing is getting kind of awkward."

* * *

 **I mean seriously, how would you react if you woke up to all of that? lol**

 **Hope you all enjoyed it so far. I've got the story mostly finished, just editing some chapters as I go. Meta fiction always cracks me.**


	2. Concrete Bubbles

**What's next for our heroes?**

 **How would you react if some stranger arrived claiming to know _your_ future? **

**Find out on the next chapter of Axis. Hope you all enjoy!**

* * *

 _ **Axis**_

 _ **Chapter 2  
**_

 **Concrete Bubbles  
**

"Oh, hell no," Kate sputtered, backing away.

When Yamcha had made the offer to take her to see Bulma, their mode of transportation hadn't even crossed her mind, but now that Goku was staring at her expectantly, she felt her childhood phobia inching it's way up her spine, making all the hair on her body stand on end.

"I'm not fucking flying," she told them, shaking her head. "No way. No how. So you can forget that idea. I don't fly."

"Oh come on, I've carried Bulma tons of times, it's perfectly safe. Besides, Goku's the strongest out of all of us—he's not going to drop you," Yamcha assured her.

"I don't care how many times you've done it, that's not the point," she squeaked out.

"I think she's scared of heights, Yamcha," Tien muttered, leaning towards him.

"Hey, relax," Goku said softly. "It's fine. No flying. I got it. I'll just use my Instant Transmission."

She grunted at that. She felt stupid for not thinking of it herself. "I don't know why I forgot that you could do that. Probably because the prospect of being dangled hundreds of feet in the air momentarily killed all of my brain cells." She shuddered at the thought. "Fucking flying," she muttered under her breath.

So far the evening had held several unpleasant surprises—the suggestion of flying being the least irritating out of the bunch. No. The Saiyan Prince still held slot numero uno in that department. The stubborn jerk. That old adage warning against meeting your idols was holding true—regardless of how handsome they were. She'd expected the arrogance, but his snarky attitude had been on an entirely different level than she could have ever anticipated. Boy, that man was a piece of work. She must have lost her damn mind when she'd engaged in their earlier shouting match with careless abandon. Screaming at a homicidal maniac hadn't been one of her best judgement calls, but hell, he wasn't even supposed to exist in the first place.

And then the old man had inserted his perverted nose into the situation.

Master Roshi hadn't made a much better first impression than Vegeta had. Popping his head into the room, his shiny bald head had dipped low, eyes scanning her naked limbs with thinly veiled lust plastered across his wrinkled face.

"Did someone say they needed pants?"

"Don't get any ideas, old man," she warned him, pinning him with a scowl.

"I'm just being a gracious host." He grinned broadly, and she hadn't missed the way Krillen had rolled his eyes when his old master had tossed her his poor excuse for of a pair of pants.

She eyed the tiny scrap of cloth that dangled from her finger. It looked to be a pair of shorts but it didn't seem to offer any more coverage than a bikini bottom would have. "You're joking right?" she muttered, her eyes sliding back to the mischievous old man's expression, to glare at him.

"It's the only thing here that will fit you," he shrugged innocently.

She pursed her lips in annoyance. "I highly doubt that."

"If you need some help getting it on, I can—"

He'd begun creeping closer, his fingers reaching for the hem of her shirt when she'd jabbed a finger at his nose, shoving him back.

"I don't think so," she laughed when he winced, stumbling back, as she crossed her arms across her chest for extra coverage. "If you value your hands, then keep them to yourself. I'm not the type of girl who puts up with that shit, and you'd do we'll to remember it," she warned him before glancing at Piccolo pleadingly. "Do you think you could do me a solid and magic me up a pair of pants before this grubby old bastard tries to get another eyeful?"

Piccolo blinked at her in surprise. "What do I look like, a tailor?" he grunted.

"I'll owe you one," she told him. "Please, Piccolo? I've had men staring at me all day—first that Saiyan asshole, and now this moron," she said throw a thumb towards Master Roshi. "I don't think my sanity can handle anymore prying eyes."

He rolled his eyes, shoving away from the wall with a huff. "Hold still," he grunted, putting out his palm, then hesitated suddenly, tilting his head to glance at her. "What do you want?"

"Just a decent pair of shorts should suffice, nothing major," she replied gratefully.

He nodded, and his palm began to glow brightly making her squint her eyes. She felt the sensation of something pressed to her legs, and once the light faded she looked down.

"Holy crap."

The dark blue denim shorts were a perfect fit, rolled at the hem in the middle of her thighs, and that's when she noticed the matching navy sneakers with white laces that were suddenly adorning her feet. Her eyes flew up to his in astonishment and before she could stop herself she threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his waist in a tight hug.

"Oh my God, you even gave me _shoes_. Thank you!"

Piccolo grunted uncomfortably, unsure exactly how to react to her gesture. "They're just shoes," he muttered awkwardly.

"Yeah, but you didn't have to do that," she told him leaning back, and realized from the look on his face that she might have overstepped her bounds, letting him go instantly. "Sorry. I get overexcited sometimes," she said sheepishly. "These are great though— _really_. Thank you again, Piccolo."

He cracked a smile. "You're welcome."

And then the whole nightmare of flying to Capsule Corp had come up…

One second Goku was nodding goodbye to his former master as the others each touched their palms to his back, and then the tiny beach house seemed to blink out of view and the towering curve of the dome filled Capsule Corp compound appeared before them. Kate's eyes grew wide as she took in the lush gardens that filled the expanses between the buildings, they were in a courtyard of some sort, the epicenter of the compound it seemed. The domed capsule buildings varying in size like enormous concrete half-bubbles.

"You okay?" Krillen chuckled, shaking her out of her stupor.

"Yeah. That was by far one of the strangest things I have ever experienced. It's basically teleporting." A thought struck her. "Holy shit, I just teleported," she said excitedly, more to herself than the others, which they seemed to find amusing.

"Yamcha, you sweet boy, is that you?"

They all turned towards the voice that chirped out happily, and Kate instantly identified the woman heading in their direction as Bulma's mother. Her bright blond hair piled high on her head was unmistakable as her blue eyes scrunched excitedly when she smiled, looking them all over.

"It's so nice to see you, dear. Oh, and you've brought your friends."

"Hi, Mrs. Briefs," Yamcha greeted her politely. "We're looking for Bulma, do you know where she is?"

"Yamcha, didn't I tell you to call me Panchy?" she chided him gently. "Bulma will be so excited to see you all. I think she's down in the lab with my husband."

"Thanks." With a wave he turned to head towards one of the smaller buildings when her voice stopped him.

"Can I get you all anything first? Something to drink?"

"No, Mrs. Briefs—Panchy," he corrected quickly, eager to disengage from the conversation. "We're good. We're sort of in a hurry anyway."

"Well, you all just let me know," she beamed at him.

He nodded and hurried away as the others followed. "That woman will talk your ear off if you let her," he muttered under his breath.

"I'm sure she means well," Kate murmured distractedly as her eyes scanned the edges of the buildings curiously. "So are all of these buildings Capsule Corp, or just the big one?"

"They're all owned by Bulma's father, but that's the main building used for company purposes. Building 1," he told her, indicating the towering behemoth that stood nearly ten stories high on the right. "The smaller ones, over there," he said motioning towards the far left edge of the courtyard, "those are labs and equipment storage—buildings 4 and 5" He pointed then to the medium dome straight ahead, that looked to be three stories at the most. "That's Dr. Briefs and Bulma's private lab. Building 3. They live in the larger building next door, between the main building and the lab, that's Building 2." She recognized Building 2 because of the balconies that faced towards the courtyard—one that took up nearly the width of the third story, and several others that curved around the fourth and fifth floors, all adorned with wide glass doors, partitioned by each room.

"Has Bulma talked at all about taking over as CEO of Capsule Corp one day?" she asked casually, as she continued to study the buildings lit by the glow of tall lamps that were scattered about the compound. She was so distracted that she hadn't noticed that he'd stopped walking to turn and stare at her—that is, until she smacked face first into his chest.

"Are you okay?" he said, eyeing her curiously as he reached out to steady her.

"Yeah, sorry. I wasn't paying attention," she said sheepishly, rubbing her nose where it had been smushed by the impact to his sternum, before adjusting the straps on her shoulders where her bag had slid off.

He looked on edge suddenly. "Listen," he sighed, letting his hands drop. "I don't mean to sound like a jerk, but I'm still a little freaked out that you know things about me and my friends that you shouldn't be able to know, and so I don't really feel comfortable telling you things about my girlfriend without her permission."

"Oh, no, yeah," she waved him off awkwardly. "I totally get it."

"It's just that…you see, Bulma's better with things like this. She has a knack for dealing with abnormal shit—probably because her parents are so eccentric. I'd rather see how she handles everything first, before I can trust you. I've got to protect her," he told her in a firm voice.

Kate raised her hands defensively. "I totally understand, Yamcha. I wasn't meaning to pry. Honest. I was just curious, I didn't mean anything by it."

"C'mon man, you'd be nosey too if you found yourself in her situation," Tien laughed, clapping him on the back. "I don't think asking about Bulma's involvement with her father's business is some sort of evil scheme."

"I didn't say that," Yamcha grumbled, throwing up his hands as he made a sour face at his friend. "But I can't be the only one who thinks this whole situation is weird."

"Even _I_ think this whole situation is weird, and _I'm_ the situation," Kate muttered wryly. "You guys aren't even supposed to be real," she reminded him. "I'm so used to you all being cartoon characters that I find it utterly bizarre seeing you all as real people with actual hair, and skin, and real clothes. Do you get what I mean? It's fucking bizarre as all get out to me, too."

"Yeah, yeah," he nodded, lowering his eyes guiltily. "I get all that. I'm just not comfortable with all of this. It's been a weird day for us all. We went from thinking Frieza was about to demolish us all, to meeting a guy from the future...to you. I've had about all the weird I can handle today."

"I believe you," she said with wide eyes. "I'm sure you're all on edge still."

"Well I think it's pretty exciting myself," Goku interjected, crossing his arms as his lips pulled into a wide grin.

" _Tch_. You would," she teased him with a soft laugh. "You think every challenge is exciting. I'm not sure anything actually scares you. In fact, a healthy dose of fear would probably be good for you once in a while," she snorted, rolling her eyes. "You're the most bizarre one out of the bunch, with your ridiculous stockpile of optimism. Probably because of how sheltered you were as a kid. It must be nice being so carefree."

Goku blinked at her in surprise. "That's not true at all. Plenty of things scare me—okay maybe not _plenty_ , but there are a couple."

"Really?" she raised a brow at him in challenge. "Name one."

Every one of them turned to stare expectantly at Goku.

"Well…Chi-Chi," he chuckled. "She doesn't even know I'm back yet, and if I don't get home with Gohan soon she'll bite my head off once I do. So we should probably hurry this up."

"Yeah, that sound about right," she snorted as the other smirked in amusement. "In fact, Gohan should probably head home now and give her a heads up. The last thing I want to do is get you in trouble with your wife."

"But I want to stay!" Gohan argued, reaching up to grab hold of his father's arm desperately.

Goku shrugged. "She's going to yell at me for being gone so long either way," he said smiling down at his son. "Maybe your mom will go easy on me if we come home together."

Gohan beamed brightly back up at him.

"Your family misses you when your gone like that, you know?" she told him. "If you're not careful, you're going to miss everything while you're off traversing the universe, and that's time you won't be able to get back, remember that," she told him pointedly.

He stared at her utterly speechless for a moments as her meaning slowly sank in, then he looked down to stare into Gohan's wide eyes that blinked up at him adoringly. "Trust me," he sighed, reaching to ruffle his son's hair affectionately. "I'm well aware of what I'm missing." He frowned then, glancing up to meet her eyes. "Now that you're here maybe it won't be that way anymore."

Her brows furrowed in confusion. "What's that supposed to mean?"

He shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm just saying since you know what's supposed to happen to us, maybe you know a way to prevent it."

Guilt swam through her. "Interfering with the future could cause more damage than it would help. Surely you're aware of that? Even Tr—" She caught herself quickly. "—the boy from the future...him coming back to warn you all will have unintended consequences."

Yamcha, Tien and Krillen gasped at that.

"Are you saying that he made things worse?" Tien pressed anxiously.

"No, not worse," she said shaking her head, "Just different. He changed things by coming here, so not everything will happen exactly the way he said it would. The future shifted the second he arrived, and probably shifted again now, because I'm here when I'm not supposed to be. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"No," Yamcha muttered. "Not really. I'm sure Bulma will be able to make more sense out of all of this than we can, though."

"Well, lead the way then," she muttered in an exasperated voice.

Without a word he turned to make his way towards Building 3 as they all followed, punching in a code by the door, and it slid open revealing a long hallway lined with large glass walls. The rooms behind them were all vacant, the lights switched off, leaving only the glow of flashing buttons on various machines and very scientific looking equipment that could be heard humming through the glass. The sound of beeps indicated the buttons of another code being punched and the next door slid open to reveal a long metal set of brightly lit stairs that spiraled down to the floor beneath it. Yamcha began the journey down casually, clearly used to being there as Goku followed along, Gohan on his heels as Piccolo went at a more cautious pace, eying Kate over his shoulder.

"What's your deal? I'm not going to kick you down the stairs," she teased.

He grunted in response and she heard Krillen and Tien snicker behind her, Chiaotzu remaining silent as he followed close by.

"Lighten up, Piccolo," she laughed touching his shoulder gently.

"I don't like having strangers at my back," he said cooly, making her pull her hand away quickly.

"I'm not your enemy, you know?" she sighed, frowning as they curved downward, the shuffle of their footsteps echoing. "And I don't mean to invade your personal space. I may be a stranger to you, but none of you are strangers to me. I'm a friendly person and I'm not used to people being on guard around me."

He paused glancing up at her where she stood two steps behind him. "I don't dislike you, if that's what you took my meaning to be. I just don't know you."

She bowed her head in acknowledgment. "Fair enough."

He continued on, nearing the bottom, as Yamcha turned left down a darkened hallway that slowly lit up when sensors detected motion. "Bulma? Dr. Briefs?"

"Yamcha?" a soft voice echoed out in surprise as they neared the farthest room on the right. "Goku?" Bulma said in confusion, sliding her safety goggles atop her blue curls as he and the others slowly began to file in. "Hey, what are you guys all doing here?" Then her eyes caught an eyeful of pink, recognizing Vegeta's shirt instantly, but filled with confusion by the the stranger with long dark hair who was wearing it, wondering why it wasn't on the Saiyan Prince. "Who's this and how come she's wearing Vegeta's shirt?"

"It's a long story, B," Yamcha sighed, raking a hand though his hair. "The shortest explanation is that she's sort of from the future, too."

"What?" Bulma blinked her wide blue eyes, shifting them back to the girl where she was making a face at Yamcha.

"That's not entirely accurate," Kate frowned, crossing her arms.

"You can explain it to her then," he muttered waving her toward Bulma.

Kate marched towards the heiress with a hand outstretched. "Hi Bulma, my name is Kathryn. I know you're a highly intelligent person so would you mind if I summarize everything for you?" she said, feeling suddenly impatient.

Bulma blinked at her for moment before glancing at her offered hand. "Sure, I guess," she said awkwardly as she shook it.

"Okay, well…" Kate began, folding her arms back across her chest. _Here goes nothing_ , she thought wryly. "Evidently Vegeta found me after I fell through a portal from an alternate dimension of earth—I was naked, and he gave me his shirt—I try not to think about that part too long to spare my sanity," she spoke in a rushed voice, waving it away quickly. "My world is just like yours, except in my world, you, Goku, Yamcha, and all the others—your entire lives basically since the day you and Goku met—are nothing more that a Saturday morning cartoon for kids." She saw the way Bulma cocked her head at that. "And I mean that in the literal sense. You're literally fictional characters in a cartoon. Bizarre right?" Her laughed had a panicked edge to it. "Evidently a few hours ago I fell into the freaky cosmic portal that brought me here to this dimension, where you're all real, living, breathing human beings, and now because Captain pissy pants of the Saiyans is the only one who knows where said portal is, I have no idea how to get home. So Yamcha and Goku suggested that you might be able to help me, and that's why I'm here. That's the gist of it." She held up her hands and shrugged awkwardly.

Bulma blinked blankly at her. "Come again?"

Kate cringed at the dumbfounded look on Bulma's face, her eyes shifting behind her as Dr. Briefs crept closer, his mustache twitching curiously.

"So you're not from the future?" Bulma asked slowly, in a careful voice, bringing Kathryn's attention back to her face, to watch as she slowly processed everything in her head.

"No."

"And Vegeta found you and gave you his shirt?" Bulma asked eying her skeptically.

"I don't know anything about how that. I woke up at Master Roshi's wearing nothing but his shirt, and I have no memory of anything after falling through the portal, other than waking up surrounded by all of them," Kathryn told her motioning the others. "I don't even remember arriving here. Goku said my clothes had been burned off—whatever that means. Also, it looks like my bag got a little crispy too," she grumbled, sliding her pack off her shoulders, to swing it around between them; holding it at eye level so that Bulma could see the scorch marks and singed edges for herself. "Which actually make sense considering that the last thing I saw before I passed out was blue fire."

"Blue fire?" Bulma gasped, jerking her head back in surprise. "How odd…" she murmured, inspecting the bag quizzically, tilting it as she studied the burn marks. "Well, the marks are consistent with the heat temperature required to make blue flames, but you don't look like you have a scratch on you," she said eyeing Kate suspiciously again.

"I don't feel like I've been burned anywhere," she admitted, glancing at her arms and legs before raising her eyes back to Bulma, "but when I woke up it sure felt like my whole body had been beaten all to hell with a baseball bat. I wondered if it had to do with a gravity difference, or perhaps a difference in the atmospheric pressure affecting my body, but your earth seems to have the exact same conditions as mine. So I just came to the conclusion that I must have fallen at some point when I passed out, and landed wherever it was that Vegeta found me."

Bulma leaned back, crossing her arms as she studied Kathryn carefully. "The whole Vegeta finding you part is what's tripping me up here." There was an accusation in her tone.

"Funnily enough, that's the part that makes the least amount of sense to me as well," Kate retorted wryly, crossing her arms to mirror Bulma's stance, one strap gripped tightly in her left fist. "The whole deal with you all being real I can rationalize," she laughed humorlessly, "but that jackass doesn't have a compassionate bone in his body so I can't imagine why on earth he'd even bother taking me to Goku for help."

Bulma's brows shot up at that, her eyes shifting to Goku then. "Can you corroborate her story?"

"What do you mean?" Goku asked in confusion.

"Did Vegeta tell you about this supposed portal?" she pressed.

"All he said was that it looked like a hole in the ground filled with blue fire and that she came flying out of it—said he put his shirt on her because her clothes were mostly burned off—and that's what it looked like when he showed up at Master Roshi's." Goku sighed reluctantly then, raking a hand through the back of his head.

Her eyes slid to Yamcha then. "Were you there too? Is that where you ran off to after I left?"

Kate could sense the tension between the two of them as Yamcha met Bulma's gaze guiltily.

"Yeah, B," he said hesitantly. "There others were already there, and you were pissed, so I figured I'd stay and let you cool down for a while."

She brushed that aside. "And did Vegeta say anything else?"

"You know how Vegeta is, Bulma. He's not exactly a people person," he told her pointedly. "He made up some bullshit excuse that the only reason he brought her to us was so we could take her off his hands because he 'didn't have time to babysit pathetic weaklings'," he told her making air quotes with his fingers. "None of us tried to talk to him about what happened because he looked just as baffled as we were—he was completely unhinged, and I didn't feel like starting a fight with him. That guy's a walking, talking lunatic."

Her eyes widened. "So he found her and then just dumped her body there with you all and left?" she asked in an outraged voice.

Kate furrowed her brows in confusion as she glanced at Yamcha. "Wait a second, what are you talking about? Vegeta was there when I woke up," she argued.

"He was going to leave…" Yamcha's face twisted uncomfortably, refusing to meet her eyes as he stared at Bulma. "But then you know how Master Roshi is with women," he said in a meaningful voice.

Bulma's eyed widened sliding to Kathryn then. "Did Roshi get handsy with you?"

Yamcha interrupted her before she could answer. "No, nothing happened. I swear, but you know how the old man gets. Vegeta was just about to leave, but then Roshi opened his big mouth talking about her— _ahem_ —lack of clothing, and it just set Vegeta off. He starting screaming and threatening to blast the whole house to pieces if we didn't keep the old bastard away from her. I'm telling you, B, the whole thing was weird as hell," he muttered sourly. "The guy was off his rocker—like more than he usually is." He glanced at Kate awkwardly. "So, no, Master Roshi didn't lay a finger on you," Yamcha assured her, putting out his hands again. "We wouldn't have let that happen, but then Vegeta went and posted himself up against that wall anyway and refused to move a muscle until you woke up. We all thought he was acting strange," he explained waving his hands towards the others before his eyes shifted back to Bulma. "Like I said, he was acting completely unhinged."

Bulma scoffed at that. "He's a deranged psychopath. Nothing he ever does makes any sense. I wouldn't even be letting him stay here if it wasn't for the fact that he has nowhere else to go—besides, he's going to be helping us with the androids, so we sort of need him." She glanced at Kathryn then hesitantly. "I don't know if they've told you about all of that yet."

"I already know all about the Androids," she told her waving her hand aside. "I knew about them before I got here, because I've seen it all already," Kathryn explained. "Which is why I really need to get home before I do or say something that's going to screw up the future."

Bulma crossed her arms over the chest of her lab coat as she eyed Kathryn in confusion. "Wait, so you _are_ from the future then?"

"No. I told you, I'm not from this dimension." Kate let out an exasperated sigh of frustration, closing her eyes as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "In my world none of you are real—you're just cartoon characters in a TV show, and in my world, the cartoon of you all, and where you are all at in this point in you timeline, was written like…twenty years ago." She shook her head, looking back at Bulma. "I don't know how to explain this correctly, but basically in my world, we're already twenty years ahead of this point in your lives now, so I've already seen what's going to happen to you all in the future. Your stories have been written well past this point, all the way up to like twenty years from now. So that's why it's imperative that I get home before my presence changes anything that's going to happen. _I'm not supposed to be here_ ," she told her, desperation in her voice as she tried to stress the gravity of the situation.

Bulma was tapping her finger impatiently on her arm as she studied her with a distrustful expression. " _Right_. In your world we're all just _cartoon characters_." Bulma's tone held a mocking edge to it making Kathryn's eyes widen.

"I can prove it!" she told her adamantly, adjusting her pack, until she could unhook the main flap. "My friends and I are all huge fans of the Dragon Ball series—that's what the TV show is called. There's Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT—though that's not considered cannon, so I wonder if it holds any weight here…" she mused out loud as she shuffled through the DVD cases just as she'd done back at Roshi's house. She glanced up at Bulma. "Do you have a TV show that you're a fan of? Or something that you're a fan of? Like scientist conventions or something for inventions?"

"Well, there's an annual conference for science and technology that dad and I attend together," she said, motioning to Dr. Brief's where he'd remained silent throughout their conversation. "Why?" Bulma said curiously. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Okay, well…" Kate told her walking over to set her bag on one of the lab tables to make it easier to sort through her belongings. "The TV Show of you all is sort of…famous. Fans get together to watch it and stuff, sort of like all the scientists get together at this convention you guys go to. You with me so far?" she asked glancing over at Bulma.

"Yeah."

"Good," she nodded. "Well, before I fell through that portal, that's sort of where I'd been. We had a convention this past weekend and some of the voice actors from the show were there. That's why I have all of these discs with me," she explained, pulling out 9 cases to arrange them in chronological order. "The creator, Akira Toriyama, who writes the stories had recently released a new series after almost a decade, called Dragon Ball Super, and after being at the convention all day, a few of my friends and I were all having a party to watch the new episode. I had my DVD's of the previous seasons with me when I fell through that stupid hole," she spread them wide, fanning them out across the table so that only the covers of the nine seasons were facing up in order. "See for yourself."

Bulma took a tentative step towards her, her eyes widening as she touched shaking fingertips to a few of the cases, utterly bewildered. Then she jerked her hand away, shaking her head so that her blue curls bounced. "A bunch of drawings don't prove anything."

"She's telling the truth, Bulma," Goku's voice murmured softly, and both women turned shocked eyes to stare at him.

"You actually believe her?" Bulma gasped, gaping at him wildly.

"She knows things about us that she shouldn't be able to know. I know it sounds crazy," he said in a serious voice.

Bulma pursed her lips, setting her hands on her hips. "Goku, you're always too trusting."

"Yeah, he is," Kate snorted wryly, pulling her attention back. "But that's why he's the hero of the show. _Look_ ," she ordered as she gathered the cases into a stack, before flipping over the one on top to read the back. "Season One, where it all began. _Goku may be small, but this fearless warrior packs a punch as powerful as any on the planet. Left alone after his grandfather's death, this unusual boy is happy to spend his days hunting and eating and eating some more. But everything changes on the day he meets Bulma—a bossy, blue-haired beauty with boys on the brain. Together, they set out to track down the seven magic Dragon Balls and make the wish that will change their lives forever_."

She slid it to the bottom of the pile and flipped over the next one. "Season Two. _After meeting his match in the World Martial Arts Tournament, Goku embarks on a mission to recover the Four Star Dragon Ball that once belonged to his grandfather. His treacherous quest will take him from the terrifying heights of Muscle Tower to the darkest depths of the deep blue sea. But with the Flying Nimbus under his feet and Bulma's Dragon Radar leading the way, there's nothing mighty Goku can't handle._ "

She glanced at Bulma, but caught sight of the others over her shoulder where they all were gaping at her with wide eyes. She continued on to the next case.

"Season Three. _Goku embarks on a journey to test his strength against the best of the best! Driven by his promise to a heartbroken young boy, Goku completes his training under Master Korin and prepares for a brutal rematch with Mercenary Tao! These two powerful warriors trade blows in a furious flurry of Dodon Rays and Kamehameha Waves, but that's only the beginning of this adventure_."

"Still don't believe me?" she asked, her light eyes shifting to Bulma's face where it had paled slightly. "Season Four. _Goku's headed for a showdown with a sinister green fiend! A new breed of evil - more powerful than anything ever experienced - is taking the world's greatest martial artists down for the count. Goku is quick to join the fight, but he's about to meet his match in the form of King Piccolo. This menacing monster has the power to pulverize the planet, and his murderous rampage will not stop until he controls the power of the seven magic Dragon Balls_." Kate glanced at the large hulking Namek. "Sorry, Piccolo," she murmured apologetically when she saw the way his face darkened.

He was taken aback by the guilt in her voice, as her eyes lowered awkwardly back to the rest of the cases.

"Season Five. _In the aftermath of his epic battle with Piccolo, Goku embarks on an electrifying quest to rescue his fallen friends from the realm of the dead. His perilous journey will take him to the heights of Korin Tower—and beyond—as he searches for Kami, a mystical being with the power to resurrect Shenron and restore the magic of the seven Dragon Balls!_ "

She gathered up the five cases then and slid them back in to the bag, leaving the last two.

"Those are from the first series—the original Dragon Ball series that was created well over twenty years ago in my world," she explained. "Then there's Dragon Ball Z—my personal favorite, and the most popular thus far in my opinion. This is season one," she explained, lifting up the orange case with a photo of Vegeta so that the others could see before she flipped it over.

" _The Saiyans are coming! The last survivors of a cruel, warrior race, these ruthless villains have carved a path of destruction across the galaxy, and now they have set their sights on Earth! They will stop at nothing until they have the wish-granting powers of the seven magic Dragonballs for their very own. With the fate of his family, friends, and the entire human race hanging in the balance, Goku, the Earth_ _'_ _s greatest hero, must rise to meet the approaching threat. As he prepares for the fight of his life, Goku embarks on an epic journey that will take him to other worlds, pit him against new and old enemies alike, and force him to confront the dark secrets of his own past. At the end of his path, the most powerful opponent he has ever faced awaits—the evil Saiyan Prince Vegeta!_ "

Kate tried to ignore the way her heart thumped slightly as she said his name, hearing the others make small noises in reaction to what she'd read. Reading those words was like a glaring reminder that the Saiyan Prince she had met earlier was far removed from being the hero she'd seen him evolve into. That version of him was still twenty years into the making and she knew that it was in the best interest of her own safety to remember that.

She swallowed the lump in her throat and continued on. "Season Two. _While Goku recovers from injuries suffered during battle with the Saiyans, his friends begin their perilous quest for the Namekian Dragon Balls! Awaiting their arrival on Planet Namek is the powerful Ginyu Force—and the vile monster Frieza!_ " She shifted the cases to read the last two summaries carefully. "Season Three. _All seven Namekian Dragon Balls have been assembled, and the dragon Porunga has been summoned! Goku and his loyal friends must stop Frieza from making his wish for immortality. To defeat this monstrous foe—_ _a Super Saiyan must emerge!_ Season Four. _Goku is missing, and a new breed of villain prepares to wreak havoc on Earth! Armed with knowledge of this looming menace, a Super Saiyan arrives from the future to deliver a grave warning: the Androids are coming—and they cannot be stopped_!"

The silence in room was deafening. All eyes were locked on her as she turned to look at each of them, seeing the realization on their faces as it seemed to finally sink in for all who still held any doubt—she was indeed telling them the truth.

"This is where you are all at now, right? Evidently Tru—" she caught herself once again, "—the Super Saiyan boy from the future, he arrived earlier today before I did, to warn you all about the androids right?" she asked them pointedly.

No one answered. The tension in the room was thick, fear hummed silently between them, the sudden threat of the Androids hitting home harder than it had before.

"Listen, I'm not trying to scare you all," she told them anxiously. "But you need to take the Androids seriously. Each foe you face will be stronger and more dangerous than the last, so trust me when I tell you that what's coming is something that none of you are prepared to handle right now. The isn't like how it was during the tournaments you all have participated in—there are no rules—no safety measures. People _will_ die if you don't stop them—millions of people. The future that boy came from is what your world will become if you aren't able to defeat them. You have three years to get ready." Kate couldn't help the way her eyes shifted to Gohan's tiny pale face. "You've got to make every second of your training count."

"This is utterly fascinating." Dr. Briefs' voice startled her when he spoke making her whirl to face him where he was unfolding one of the cases to examine it's contents, his mustache twitching with curiosity.

"Not to me," Kate responded cooly, shaking her head. "To me, this is a nightmare. I have no idea how any of this is even possible. I'm not supposed to be here because _this_ _world_ — _your_ world—it's not supposed to even exist. I have no idea how to get home because I have no idea how I was able to come here in the first place. To be here now…what if I'm still here when the androids arrive? I could be stuck here forever. I don't find that fascinating Dr. Brief's—I find that fucking terrifying."

"Wait," Bulma's voice made her glance at the heiress where she was scrutinizing the contents of here bag. "What about the rest? There are other disks in here—"

Kate snatched the bag away from her, as she scrambled to shove the cases inside. "That's my point. The rest are about what happens during and after the Androids arrive. I'm sorry, but you can't see these," she told her, hugging the bag to her chest protectively as she shook her head. "I can't let you all see your future. I can't tell you. It could screw up everything. Please understand that," she pleaded with Bulma fiercely. "Do you believe me now?"

Bulma contemplated her question as she tilted her head, studying her cautiously. "I can't refute the evidence you've presented us with," she sighed, stuffing her hands into the pockets of her lab coat. "So far, everything has happened exactly as you said—with Goku and I meeting, the tournaments, even with what happened to us on Namek—I don't see how I can doubt you with that sort of information staring me in the face, but I have to be logical about this."

Kate relaxed slightly at that. "Yes, so you understand why I need your help, Bulma. I have to get home, and the longer I'm here, the more dangerous my presence in your world becomes."

"In the meantime we could just destroy the discs," she said with a shrug.

Kate frowned at that. "I mean, you could…I don't like that though, because I really don't want to destroy these," she explained hugging her bag tighter to her chest. "I love them, and while I could always buy more—if I ever get home—even if you _did_ destroy them, that wouldn't change the fact that I already know everything that's going to happen."

Bulma's brows shot up eagerly. "But if you already know what's going to happen then you could help us," she argued.

Kate winced in reluctance. "I want to—trust me, I really do—but I'm afraid if I tell you about anything that happens beyond this point that it will alter the future in a way that could do more damage than good, so I can't. Trun—I mean, the boy you met today, he came from the future to warn you about the Androids because in his timeline the Androids have killed almost everyone of you, and he came here hoping to stop that from happening, but even him doing so has changed a few things already. Things that he didn't even know to warn you about. If him warning you about a few small things has had such a huge effect then what do you think will happen if you're told about the rest of your lives? What if it gets you all killed?" Kathryn posed to her meaningfully hoping that she understood the point she was trying to make.

Bulma narrowed her eyes at the girl suspiciously. "So you know who the boy is?"

Kate went still, pausing to consider her answer before she spoke. "Yes…I do, but I can't tell you who he is or what I know. I can't take that risk, you all matter too much to me, and I have too much respect for you all to alter your destinies like that. Goku and Piccolo, you two understand what I mean don't you?" she glanced at the two warriors pleadingly from back up.

Bulma gasped at that as her eyes flew to Goku and Piccolo. "Wait, you mean…you two know who he is? So you two didn't tell us everything he told you did you?"

Panic shot through Kate suddenly. "Dammit! See! This is what I'm talking about!" she railed frantically. "No one but Goku and Piccolo are supposed to know anything else the boy told Goku _besides_ the stuff about the Androids. It could ruin everything, Bulma!" she pleaded with her desperately. "You just can't know. I'm sorry," she said shaking her head anxiously making her long dark waves swirl around her. "This is why I shouldn't even be here. I know too much, and it's hard to keep track of what I'm allowed to tell you and what I'm not. I might let something slip on accident. I cannot stress to you enough just how dangerous that is. So, please, I'm begging you all to trust me. I know that's asking a lot. I know how bizarre and frustrating this probably is, but you all can't know, under _any_ circumstances."

"So you already know if we're all going to die and how?" Piccolo's gruff voice growled.

Kate locked eyes with him. "Even if I do, I can't tell you. Besides, would you really want to know?"

"We all deserve the opportunity to change our fate," he argued.

"Yes, you've said that before—earlier today when Goku wasn't going to tell the others. I know," she sighed, sending a jolt of surprise through Piccolo. "I understand all of that, but this isn't the same situation as with the Super Saiyan boy you met earlier. What I've seen is fixed in a different way. It's a different timeline from his. With me here it could set the future on a path that's worse than what he's seen in his. What if you don't die in the future I have seen for you all, and me telling you causes you to get killed anyway, or earlier than you should? There's two sides to every possibility. On one hand it may save you, on the other hand it could get you killed. Do you want to risk it having a negative effect?" she told him in a hard voice.

"You have a point," he grunted.

"Of course I have a point," she snorted derisively. "I wouldn't have gone on that long rant to convince you if I didn't."

"She's feisty. I like her," Bulma laughed, grinned as her eyes flashed with admiration.

"Does that mean you'll help me?" Kathryn asked as hope bloomed in her chest.

"I don't know what we can do for you really," Bulma sighed. "I have no idea where to even start."

"Well first, I need to find the portal I came through," she told her, slinging her pack back over her shoulder. "I don't know where it is, because all I remember is falling through it and then waking up surround by these guys," she threw a thumb over her shoulder at the others. "Unfortunately Vegeta's stubborn ass is the one who found me, and I'm pretty sure that I royally pissed him off, so the egotistical jerk is probably going to be of no help whatsoever," she huffed irritably as she rolled her eyes.

"That sounds like Vegeta," Bulma muttered in amusement.

Kate frowned at that. "Yeah, he's a real piece of work."

Bulma blinked in surprised. "Wow. You two must have really gotten into it."

Yamcha burst out laughing at that. "You have no idea, B. Aside from you, I've never seen anyone stand up to him like that. You should have seen the look on his face," he chuckled.

Kate crossed her arms irritably. "I shouldn't really be surprised that we ended up in a screaming match. I already knew he was an asshole. His reputation didn't disappoint at all."

Bulma raised a brow at that. "So you know all about the things he's done then?"

"Oh, trust me, she knows a lot more about him than any of us," Yamcha explained wryly. "She knew things about him that should be impossible for anyone to know but him. She knew about his future, something about him being a hero one day, and even told him things about his past that even he wasn't unaware of. It definitely spooked him."

"Which was a mistake on my part," Kate murmured guiltily. "I shouldn't have told him any of that. I don't know what in the hell she was thinking…but he just kept on pushing my buttons and my temper got the best of me."

Yamcha snorted at that. "Listen, I understand you're worried about changing things, but honestly, he needed to be taken down a peg or two," he said attempting to ease her guilt.

"Regardless, I still shouldn't have done it," she argued, remorse in her voice. "After all, from what you all have said, Vegeta is the one who brought me to Master Roshi's to get me help when he found me, so I sort of owe him. That information wasn't mine to tell, and no matter what he's done, it was extremely reckless and cruel of me to tell him the things I did," she told him pointedly. "Like I said, you all matter too much to me, and I have too much respect for each of you to risk possibly altering your destinies like that."

"Well, I think we should start by running some tests," Bulma interjected, sensing the tension in the air. "Maybe there are some traces of residue left on you from the portal when you came through it. We might be able to use that to engineer a tracker to detect the radioactive frequency it puts off."

"That's assuming it's still there," Kate muttered dejectedly. "What if I'm stuck here?"

"I don't know," Bulma said sadly. "I'll admit, it's a long shot, but it's worth a try. Until then, it would probably be a good idea for you to stay here at Capsule Corp."

Kate blinked at her sharply. "Really? You don't mind?"

Bulma shrugged in response. "Not at all."

"You sure do have a thing for taking in strays, don't you?" she teased her playfully. "Honestly Bulma, I can't tell you how much I appreciate that—you too, Dr. Briefs," she said glancing at the elder scientist.

"Think nothing of it, my dear," he replied, folding his hands behind his back as he smiled warmly, his eyes crinkling at the corners.

"Don't thank me yet," Bulma laughed in an uneasy voice. "The only room we have that's suitable for guests is the one down the far hall from mine—next to Vegeta's."

Kate's bubble of elation burst.

Bulma saw the flash of apprehension that appeared on her face and hurried to assuage her fears. "I know!" Bulma said excitedly, snapping her fingers. "I'll set some bots up clearing out one of the other spare rooms starting tomorrow morning, and we can move you there after we get it set up. It's just a bunch of boxes and old furniture. I should have it cleared out within the week, if you don't mind using the other one in the meantime. You probably won't even run into Vegeta anyway. He's usually too busy destroying the training bots I built for him and then his second favorite hobby seems to be hunting me down to complain about the training bots I built for him. It's a spectacular part of any day," she told her sarcastically in annoyance. "Sometime I just want to plant a bomb in those things and watch him blow himself up."

"You wouldn't," Kate chortled hysterically.

"No, I wouldn't," Bulma muttered making a sour face. "But I've considered it. I mean, would it honestly kill the jackass to say thank you?" she snapped irritably, putting her hands on her hips.

"Probably," Kate muttered, trying not to laugh. "His ego would shatter. That man would rather choke on the words before he'd ever bring himself to say them. I don't think 'thank you' is part of the Saiyan vocabulary."

Bulma snickered at that, hooking her arm within Kate's slyly. "Oh, I'm going to like having you around. I'm not usually one for gossip, but I need someone to bitch to about that asshole to because I'm about one more conversation away from losing my patience with his attitude."

"I'm not exactly his favorite person right now Bulma," she reminded her warily. "The two of us together is just going to piss him off more."

"Let him be pissed off," she laughed, waving off her concerns. "He's a guest in my house, he's not the boss of me. Besides, don't you have dirt on him or something?"

A wicked grin slid across Kate's face suddenly, her blue eyes brightening mischievously. "Why yes, yes I do."

Yamcha's booming laughter made everyone look at him then. "I would say that I almost feel sorry for the guy…but I don't."

As the room burst into a chorus of giggles and amused laughter, a short distance away, a severely shaken Saiyan Prince was touching down on the balcony outside of his room on the third story—and he was seething.

* * *

 **Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed the second chapter. I just love having the whole gang back together again, and it's always amusing having a laugh at Vegeta's expense. ; )**


	3. Bad Dreams

**Don't worry guys, for all those who found Vegeta woefully absent in the last chapter, this one has a lot of juicy info regarding our favorite Saiyan Prince. Enjoy!**

* * *

 _ **Axis**_

 _ **Chapter 3**_

 **Bad Dreams**

Vegeta felt the phantom twitch of the dismembered limb—it didn't happen often that he was reminded of his missing tail, but in the heat of his fury he could sense the way it would have uncoiled from around his belly, flicking wildly behind him as he paced manically back and forth along the small confines of his room. It was habit, long ingrained in him after thirty years of having it attached to his body—nearly two since it had been sliced off, and yet he'd never felt it's absence more than he did in that moment. The tension in his body had his muscles clenched tight, rage vibrating along his skin as he ached desperately for something else to destroy—the peak of the heavily forested mountainside that he'd obliterated on his way back to the compound had done little to quell the swirl of warring emotions tearing their way through him.

Tangled thoughts raced through his head as a snarl of memories wrenched his insides; his mind ricocheting back and forth, blurring past his discovery of that blazing blue inferno that had raged like a pool of dark fire, until it settled onto the vision that had brought him up short when the thing had practically spit her out—swaying precariously on her feet as swirling streams of heat baked off her bare flesh, like she'd been cooked alive. Seeing the sparks of energy licking along her naked skin like electricity, he had charged forward, prepared to attack; his body coiled to strike when she'd fallen to her knees, and a vicious smile had split his lips, zeroing in callously on such easy prey.

But then she'd looked up at him with those eyes…

He'd expected to find something else—the look of a wounded animal begging to be put out of it's misery—no, instead those burning blue orbs had lit up at the sight of him, some flicker of recognition in those shining nebulas as she stared up at him with an unfathomable expression that was mind-numbing…

Then she'd whispered his name.

It had set him firmly back on his heels, rooting him to the spot; effectively paralyzing him where he stood, staring down at her where she was kneeling at his feet. No creature had ever had the stomach to look at him with anything softer than revulsion or fear, and he'd certainly never heard his name whispered with such delicate reverence. The sensuous way her lips had parted, breathing his name like sigh of relief had made other things shake lose inside of him, and it had sent a shiver of fear shooting up his spine, because for the first time in his life he couldn't comprehend what he was feeling.

Then she'd collapsed suddenly, pitching forward.

One moment he'd been a split second from blasting her to pieces—mistakenly thinking that he'd stumbled upon a foe of some sort—and the next he knew, without even realizing it, he'd done the damnedest thing…

He'd caught her.

Even as he held her, he couldn't make sense of what had come over him—he didn't give a damn about the pitiful creature in his arms. She was nothing to him. A stranger. Her delicate features were unfamiliar to him, so he couldn't fathom how she had known his name. He was sure that he had never seen the woman before in his life. He would have remembered those eyes…

His errant thoughts had been suddenly thrown by the wayside, when his gaze finally drank her in. She'd been all tender pink skin, and a tangled waterfall of dark chestnut hair that flowed through his fingers, as he'd cradled her fragile skull in his palm. He hadn't known then what to make of her, as his eyes raked hungrily over the silken limbs that curled closer; shivering as they sought the heat of his skin, as if trying to burrow desperately into the shelter of his body. When he'd hefted her up tighter against his chest, it was as if his body had a mind of it's own, and then what remained of the last few bits of charred fabric had fallen away, and a strange sensation had burned through his own veins.

It had been too long since he'd slaked the tension of his body inside a woman, and even just the memory of her naked form shot straight to his groin, making him grit his teeth in annoyance when he found himself having to grip himself through his pants to adjust accordingly.

 _Damn her_.

If he'd been unsure what to make of her before, once he'd taken her to Kakarot she'd become an utter enigma to him altogether.

Those curvaceous mounds of delicate flesh had morphed into a shrieking banshee the second she'd opened her eyes, spitting fire, and skittering away from the clown like a frightened animal, while he'd looked on, thoroughly amused—of course, his amusement had been short lived. She'd rounded on him suddenly, with those wild nebulous eyes blazing, and in a mere matter of moments she had managed to dismantle his resolve as she flayed his pride alive.

She hadn't even been scared of him! He, the Prince of all Saiyans, who made most creatures quake in fear at the very sight of him, and she had scolded him as if he were some impotent weakling. Though she'd been clearly aware of who he was, not only had she refused to back down, but had instead fixed him with a defiant glare that burned like blue fire; dismissing his threats as if she'd heard them all before. The sharp contrast of her ethereal beauty warring with the hellish she-demon that had spit fire at him, made his head spin.

As if her obscure reactions weren't enough, then the woman's mind had wandered off, inanely prattling about cartoons—whatever the hell those were—and portals and a dozen other things that made absolutely no sense to him. He'd begun to think that perhaps the fire had cooked her brain and rendered her permanently damaged, until she had mentioned Frieza and began to recount the events that occurred on Namek. Her knowledge had unsettled him, and in his usual fashion, he'd masked his discomfort by sneering at her.

That had been his first mistake.

" _You might want to be careful what you start with me,_ _ **Prince**_ _. The things I know about you might fatally wound your sensitive Saiyan ego._ _"_

She'd shredded her way through his earlier barbs, without batting so much as an eyelash in surprise, yet it still hadn't given him pause when he'd barreled onward, foolishly attempting to bait her.

That had been his second mistake.

" _I know that you_ _'_ _re a proud warrior of the Saiyan race, an elite fighter and heir to the throne—made proud and arrogant by your title and status among your people—but don_ _'_ _t push me, Vegeta._ _I_ _'m seriously not in the mood to deal with your egotistical bullshit right now, and I will bring up painful things from your past, right here, right now, in front of everyone, if you don_ _'_ _t back, the fuck,_ _ **off**_ _._ "

She _had_ warned him. Repeatedly.

He should have realized that he was woefully outmatched and hilariously unprepared to take her on verbally—further incentive for him to back down.

His pride hadn't let him though.

Given the fact that he knew absolutely nothing about her, while she'd made a point of putting a small taste of her knowledge about it him on display, almost as a deterrent; he didn't know why he hadn't believed her when she'd warned him profusely that he wouldn't come out of this battle of wills unscathed. He'd horrifically underestimated the woman.

That had been his third mistake.

" _I know things about your past that even you don_ _'_ _t know, Vegeta! I could easily use that information to prove that everything I_ _'_ _ve said is true, but I would prefer to not stoop that low. So if you don_ _'_ _t curb your fucking attitude, you will leave me no choice but to cross a line that you are sorely going to regret, by making an example of you, so as I said before—_ _ **don't,**_ _ **push**_ _ **, me**_ _._ _"_

He had backed her thoroughly into a corner.

That had been his fourth and final mistake, and what a colossal misstep that had been—a sore miscalculation on his part for underestimating his foe, and he'd paid for it dearly.

The tiny hellcat had come out swinging.

" _No! You wanted to fucking push me? Well, this is what you get! A nice healthy dose of the cold, hard truth for once. I'm not going to tiptoe around your vanity like the others. If you want to be an arrogant, self-centered prick, then deal with the fucking consequences. Consequences like the truth for once in your miserable life._ _"_

His entire night had dissolved from there…

No matter how violently he had screamed or threatened her, she had continued to fearlessly tear his world as he knew it apart—unmaking it and reshaping it with every agonizing word she spoke.

Since that moment, his entire life had felt like it was unraveling faster than he could make sense of it.

As if pathetically bearing witness to Frieza's defeat at yet _another_ Super Saiyan's hands hadn't been enough to make him furious—the brat from the future and his ridiculous claims—the demon woman and her unsettling insight into his past, had ripped open old wounds that should have stayed buried under the shrine of rubble he'd cemented atop them. For twenty-five years he'd hated his father. Twenty-five years of bitterness spent feeling betrayed by how easily the old man had handed him over to the tyrant—or so he had thought. Petty attachments were a weakness that could be used against you. It had been the first cruel lesson that Frieza had taught him, and suddenly her words had him questioning all of it.

" _He did the only thing he could do when he gave you to Frieza—he protected the only thing he loved. He protected his son._ _ **You**_ _."_

" _He had no intention of leaving you in the hands of that monster. Why do you think Frieza killed him?"_

Her words had been like knives, chipping away at him—prying open the cage that he'd locked his pain away in long ago. He'd never been able to admit his own guilt even to himself, and suddenly it had been pouring through him, drowning him—a lifetime of shame and resentment washing to the surface.

" _You_ _'_ _re father boarded Frieza_ _'_ _s ship with every intention of killing him before he could leave with you. He was there to rescue you, Vegeta, and it cost him his life."_

It made Vegeta ache for the carnage of battle more than he ever had. _He_ should have been the one to tear Frieza limb from limb, but now his vengeance raked through him unsatisfied, leaving a blistering trail of fury and shame in it's wake. Even after he'd learned the truth of how his world had really been destroyed—not by an asteroid as he'd believed, but by Frieza's own hands—he hadn't been able to shake the nagging feeling in the pit of his stomach that somehow he'd been responsible for it all.

Her words had stripped that from him too.

" _It wasn_ _'_ _t your fault, Vegeta."_

Vegeta raked a hand through his wild mane of hair, as he pushed to stare out through the glass that lead to the balcony.

He hadn't realized how much he'd needed to hear those words until that moment. Even as he had stood there listening as she continued to relentlessly tear him apart, he'd also felt as if she were at the same time stitching closed a wound that had been left to fester and bleed inside of him for decades—knitting back the pieces together in a way the relived a weight he hadn't realized he'd been carrying for so long.

" _There was nothing you did wrong to set his sights on you. You have to stop blaming yourself for what happened."_

" _You were just a boy, forced into a life of bloodshed and carnage, never given the chance to be anything other that what Frieza tried to turn you into."_

" _There was nothing you could have done to save your father or your world."_

" _He gave his life trying to save you, and you can_ _'_ _t blame yourself for that."_

" _His death wasn_ _'_ _t your fault."_

" _I know you think that it was because of you, but it wasn_ _'t._ _"_

Why had her words pierced through him? Why were they still echoing in his head, haunting him as the vision of her eyes swam behind his own?

He shook the words away, but her eyes stayed fixed in place as their shade morphed into something brighter and more threatening. Bursting with the intensity of the rarest sapphire nebulas, shards of emerald space dust swirling in a misty haze—he'd witnessed enough destruction throughout countless galaxies in his lifetime to recognize it. The exploding blue nebulas of worlds shattering is what she held in those searing eyes of hers—as if her electric gaze should have melted the flesh from his body with one tender look.

It was unsettling the way her words had ricocheted back and forth, jostling his mind precariously on the edge of being frayed to it's limits. One second she was whispering soothingly, like a balm to his battered pride, and with her next breath she'd been like a demon sent to punish him, laying his own atrocities bare. How could someone so small and delicate be able to wrench his insides? Condemning him with one simple phrase…

" _There is innocent blood on your hands, Prince of all Saiyans."_

Vegeta snarled, clenching his fists as he turned away from the glittering lights of the city.

" _Countless planets, billions of innocent lives turned to ash at your hands. Men, women and children. Innocents. Blood spilt of your own free will."_

He'd relished the blood he'd spilt—innocent or not—he was a warrior, after all. What did he care if he'd murdered billions of innocents? He didn't feel guilt or remorse for what he'd done. Pity and mercy were traits that only weaker beings possessed, and he, Vegeta, the last Prince of the once great Saiyan Empire, was no weakling.

So why had her judgment unsettled him so badly?

" _Even the blood of your own people. Raditz whom you discarded as a weakling, and Nappa slain by your own hand…The only Saiyans left in existence, and you attempted to snuff them out! It was your sworn duty as their Prince to protect your people, Vegeta._ _ **Your**_ _people, and you let them die."_

" _I know when you sleep, you can still hear them screaming, Vegeta—all the lives you took. You_ _'_ _re haunted by the nightmare of their screams as they burned alive, the same way your people did at Frieza_ _'s hands._ _"_

Each claim she had laid against him had flayed him open because he hadn't been able to deny the truth of her accusations, even to himself. When she'd reflected his sins back using the death of his own people, it had been as if he were seeing them for the first time, except through her eyes instead, and it had unnerved him.

" _Frieza stripped you of your honor, and your freedom. He destroyed your home and was responsible for the genocide of your entire world. He turned you into a monster just like him. I know that sometimes when you look in the mirror, all you can see is Frieza staring back at you."_

There had been nights since Namek when the image of worlds being obliterated at his hands had morphed into something else entirely; His own calloused fingers paling right before his eyes, nails darkening to black claws, as his battle-scarred skin took on a pink hue, blasting his home world into oblivion. Had the woman been right? Was that what his mind had conjured? Had his traitorous subconscious drawn parallels between himself and the monster who had eradicated his race?

" _He turned you into a monster just like him."_

For the first time since Frieza had taken everything that had ever mattered to him, he wondered whether his life of unwilling servitude to the tyrant had denied him much more than his Father's throne. Had his stoic exterior and lust for revenge handicapped him so severely that it rendered him unable to ever ascend in the first place?

So many years he had unwittingly heeled at the end of an invisible leash, tethered to his own rage and pain, and and where had it gotten him? Marooned on this godforsaken planet, listening to a woman with more wisdom than sense as she verbally assaulted him with the tragic irony of his own life.

" _For all your Saiyan pride—despite your strength—your arrogance and your obsession with power made you weak. It allowed Frieza to twist your soul into a ruthless monster—warped your heart, turned it into beating stone—making you cold, and hard, and almost unfeeling at all."_

That wasn't true. He had done a lot of _feeling_ during the span of time it had taken the woman to shred his entire life to pieces, and just when he had thought that he wouldn't be able to take anymore, she had been there; taking his face between her hands, staring up at him with those goddamn eyes—eyes that were alight with salvation, instead of the damnation he deserved—as she whispered fierce declarations that seemed to breathe new life back into his shattered pride.

" _There is still honor in you—I know there is."_

" _Here still beats the heart of a Saiyan warrior, and no one can ever take that from you—not even Frieza"_

" _You are the Prince of all Saiyans, and you bend to the will of no creature!"_

He would have recovered his resolve fully at those words, if only a few moments later she hadn't sent him careening off balance again with the insinuation of a Super Saiyan God. He'd never heard of such a thing, even during his father's endless speeches about the Legendary power of their race. In fact, he was certain that the woman must have been lying—a feeble attempt to ensnare him with her nonsense. There was not, nor had there ever been, a Super Saiyan _God_.

But what if he were wrong? What if the woman had been telling the truth?

It was a seductive premise—a power that went beyond a Super Saiyan—a power that could rival even Kakarot's. But how could he hope to ever attain such power when the clown seemed to be lightyears ahead of his own progress?

He rutted like a raging bull, snarling once again as he shook the thought away.

 _Damn her_.

Damn her for putting the very idea in his head.

" _I have seen the great man that you could one day become, and I'm begging you Vegeta—for your sake, and for the sake of the billions of lives I know you will one day save_ _…_ _ **don'**_ _ **t waste this**_ _._ _"_

She had spoken of redemption and greatness in a way that rankled him sorely. He didn't give a damn about anything but his own selfish ambitions and there was nothing she could say to him that would convince him otherwise. He wasn't interested in becoming the hero she had described.

The most unnerving part of her little speech hadn't been the hope that had shined behind her eyes—quite the opposite in fact. Before he had even decided to extract himself from her tender grip on his face, her expression had shifted—her brows knotting harshly as her features rearranged themselves into some sort of tense waiting—as if she had expected his rejection long before he'd ever even decided to pull away. She had already known that he would, so why had she even bothered saying any of it in the first place?

Her foresight unnerved him.

Her insight unnerved him.

More than all the rest, the way his body reacted to her goddamn eyes unnerved him.

Closing his eyes he inhaled, trying to get hold of himself as he remembered the way her scent had hit him; those words tumbling out of that pretty mouth of hers, cradling his face in her treacherous little fingers, all while those eyes continued to burn right through him in a way that set his veins on fire.

Before he'd even fled the room he had felt the familiar aching in his loins begin to spread.

He'd been at a loss ever since as to what he wanted more—to fuck her or kill her.

At the moment, he was leaning heavily towards the later.

No wonder those blue flames had spit her out so violently—he was convinced that she'd been sent straight from some hellish dimension just to torment him. Whatever devil existed in that remorseless pit had probably purged her himself; all in an attempt to be free of her—free from those piercing eyes, and that sharp tongue. What creature in it's right mind could withstand the gaze of that woman?

Yes, _Damn her._

And damn the hell that she'd crawled out of too.

A muffled noise through the wall tore Vegeta from his thoughts, making him scowl murderously towards the sound when he recognized the annoying blue-haired woman's voice. He was in no mood to listen to her mindless chatter tonight, nor did he have the restraint to be within even hearing distance of any female of the vile human species, after what he'd experienced earlier in the presence of that…that… _harpy_!

Stalking past the bed that had remained untouched since the last time he'd slept in it over a year and a half prior, he nearly ripped the door off it's hinges.

" _WOMAN!_ " he roared furiously as he stormed towards the now open doorway of the room adjacent to his own.

Scanning the interior surreptitiously, his eyes landed on the blue-haired idiot where she stood waiting for him expectantly.

"Can I help you with something, Vegeta?"

He scowled at her exasperated tone, crossing his arms. "We had an agreement, woman. _You_ keep to _your_ part of the building and _I_ keep to _mine_. So what do you think you're doing here?" he growled.

"Vegeta, it's _my_ house. I can go wherever I damn well please," she spit back at him crossing her arm, clearly undaunted by the fury of his tone.

"I can hear your annoying voice through the walls," he snarled, stomping angrily towards her.

"Oh good, Captain Asshole is back," a bored voice muttered.

Vegeta felt his blood run cold, freezing mid-stride as his eyes swung to the figure leaning casually in the bathroom doorway; her arms crossed as she pinned him with an nonplussed expression. He watched one delicate brow arch in challenge over those goddamn eyes before his gaze snapped back to the heiress, fury boiling in his veins.

"What the fuck is _she_ doing here?" he seethed, jabbing a finger in the direction of the unwelcome visitor—irritated by the way his body involuntarily reacted to seeing her.

Bulma pursed her lips. "She's going to be staying here, Vegeta."

As soon as the words left her mouth the Saiyan Prince's eyes popped wide, paling slightly as his gaze shifted back to the demon woman eyeing him curiously from the doorway.

"Hey there, roomie," Kate waved smartly. "Guess you'll be wanting your shirt back, won't you? I know how fond you are of the color pink," she said, plucking at the fabric that covered her chest.

Bulma failed to hide the way her lips twitched in amusement. "Don't piss him off," she said, but the warning was half-hearted. "He seems to be in a particularly foul mood tonight. I wonder why that is…?" she raised a teasing brow in Kate's direction.

"Why, Bulma…" Kate gasped in false alarm, "whatever do you mean?" she asked innocently, putting a hand to her chest. "Surely you aren't implying that _I'm_ the reason he's got his royal panties in a bunch, are you?" she said feigning outrage, before a smirk slid across her face as her eyes shifted back to Vegeta.

Vegeta's eye twitched. They were mocking him.

He reigned in his temper, willing his body to obey as his face slipped into a cool mask of indifference. No woman was going to get the better of him, and certainly not this bitch from hell!

"I asked you a question," he said, his voice cool and direct as his hardened gaze slid to the blue-haired woman once again. "Why is she _here_?"

But it wasn't Bulma who answered.

"Just like _you_ , I didn't really have anywhere else to go, and _unfortunately_ this was the only room available," Kate told him, frowning sharply. "Also, why did you storm off earlier without telling me that _you're_ the one who found me?"

He felt heat creep into his cheeks as she continued to stare him down with those eyes—almost knowingly—chewing on the inside of her cheek as she watched him stiffen slightly, refusing to answer.

"It probably should have been glaringly obvious to me considering that it's _your_ shirt I'm wearing," she told him, fingering the him of the fabric. "But still, why didn't you say anything?" she asked, her voice softening.

His scowl sharpened. " _Tch_. What difference does it make?"

Her brows shot up in surprise.

"It makes a difference to _me_. You just stood there and let me yell at you, when I probably owe you my life," she told him pointedly, her eyes softening, and the look she gave him suddenly made him uncomfortable. "If you hadn't taken me to Goku—" her voice choked off as she visibly cringed, her brows knotting as she lowered her eyes. "I don't even want to think about where I'd be right now—stumbling around naked and lost in the middle of nowhere. Or worse, torn apart and eaten by some wild animal probably." Her lashes fluttered as she slowly raised her gaze back to lock with his and then took a deep breath. "Thank you, for what you did."

Vegeta snorted as he eyed her warily, wondering if her suddenly contrite demeanor was a ploy of some sort. It was throwing him off balance.

"I didn't do it for you, woman," he spat gruffly.

"For crying out loud!" she muttered throwing her hands in the air. "You couldn't just accept the 'thank you' could you? I'm trying to apologize, you know?" she grumbled, raising a brow at him. "If I had known what you'd done then I wouldn't have gone off on that whole tirade earlier about your father—"

"I was generous with my first warning, woman," Vegeta snapped icily, his face darkening with a murderous scowl. "I won't make the same mistake twice. Mention my father again and this time I _will_ kill you."

The shock must have finally worn off of her, because he watched as a look of genuine fear flashed in her eyes, but his triumphant mood was short lived when it vanished almost as quickly as it appeared.

"Yeah, yeah, fine." She rolled her eyes, raising her hands in surrender. "No more mentioning Papa Vegeta. I get it. My lips are sealed."

"I should kill you anyway just for mocking me," he hissed.

"Oh yeah, why don't you give it a shot then, hot stuff?" Kate dared him brazenly.

"Don't tempt me, woman," he snarled, curling his hands into fists.

Bulma felt an edge of panic as she looked between the two of them. "Vegeta…Goku and the others are right downstairs," she warned him in a threatening voice. "Don't make me call them up here."

"That clown wouldn't make it here in time to stop me," he reminded her cooly, as his eyes remained locked on the she-devil that was staring him down from the bathroom doorway. He finally managed to tear his eyes away to glare heatedly at the blue-haired woman that was watching him with barely concealed panic in her eyes.

"She's not staying here," he hissed.

"Er—this is my house, Vegeta, so that's not really your call to make," Bulma argued, irritated by his demanding tone.

"If you want me to stay here and help your idiot friends with your little android problem, the she _goes_ ," he threw back at her.

Kate rolled her eyes. "Don't be such a drama queen. For the love of God, Vegeta, it's not like we have to share a bed—there's a whole fucking wall between us," she muttered, motioning the the adjoining foot of plaster that separated their rooms. "Besides, if you'd be willing to suck up your goddamn pride for _five fucking seconds_ and show me where _you_ found me, then I'd gladly remove my happy ass from your miserable life—at your earliest convince, of course," she added in a lightly mocking tone.

He squelched the strange rush of panic that flooded through him, and sneered at that. "Woman, even if I remembered where that blasted spot was, what makes you think that I give a damn about helping you?"

He was prepared for another one of her fiery retorts—half afraid that she would see right through his lie the same way she had seemed to see right through his entire goddamned life hours earlier—but instead the creamy pink flush of her cheeks paled and her entire body jerked upright in panic.

"Wait, what are you saying?" she breathed, gasping in horror. "You mean you don't remember where you found me?"

He scowled at the guilt that sparked in him for instant, but he beat it back.

"No."

Kate felt like she'd been kicked in the gut, reaching out to grab hold of the door jam for support as cold fear settled in the pit of her stomach.

"Bulma…" her eyes flashed up desperately towards the heiress. "Do you think the tracker you were talking about could really work? Be honest with me."

"I already told you it was a long shot, Kathryn," the heiress admitted reluctantly, splaying her hands wide helplessly. "We can run some tests tomorrow and I'll see what my dad and I can come up with."

Kate's eyes shifted to Vegeta where he was studying them both cooly. "Can you at least point us in the general direction of where you found me?"

"I'm not a damn compass, woman," Vegeta snarled, his eyes darting away.

She narrowed her eyes at him, crossing her arms. "Are you being obstinate on purpose?" she muttered sourly. "I know you spent most of your life scouting planets for Frieza. You're an elite tracker. You have the ability to memorize terrain like the back of your hand, so don't give me that bullshit, Vegeta."

He bristled at her accusation, nostrils flaring as he pinned her with a threatening glare before he swung around to scowl at the heiress.

"Keep that harpy away from me," he snarled, spinning on his heels to storm out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

Bulma grimaced wryly at Kate. "Yeah…I think it's best if we move you out of this room as soon as possible."

The door burst back open suddenly.

"And another thing…" The Saiyan Prince snarled as he came barreling once again through the room, making a beeline for the dark haired woman still leaning in the doorway to the bathroom. His eyes were glittering dangerously as he stopped before her to stare her down. "I want my shirt back. _Now_."

"Hey, I gave you that shirt!" Bulma yelped in protest.

"Well it's mine now," he threw back at her, never breaking eye contact with the aforementioned harpy. "And I want it back."

Kate had the good sense to take him at his word. Her jaw dropping as her blue eyes flew wide.

"You mean… _right now_?" The last words squeaked out a whole octave higher.

A slow smirk slid across his lips as he leaned to brace one hand against the doorjamb—effectively barring her from escaping. "That's precisely what I mean."

She scowled up at him, arms tightening over her chest defiantly as she debated silently whether this was some scheme to get under her skin. Well, two could play that game.

"You know what? _Fine._ "

Loosening her arms she began fumbling furiously with the buttons. She'd only made quick work of the first four when the Saiyan Prince jerked away in surprise. He'd expected her to cower in fear—or at least her indignation as she sought privacy to undress—not for her to begin disrobing right there in front of him.

"Woman, what are you doing?" he sputtered uneasily.

She shot him a glare as she moved to the next button, exposing another inch of her creamy flesh.

"What does it look like I'm doing? You said you wanted your shirt, so I'm giving you your goddamn shirt," she snapped.

Another button, and his throat bobbed uncomfortably when the fabric parted enough for him to partially glimpse the the swell of her breasts, heat steadily rising in his cheeks.

"I didn't mean for you to take it off _here,_ woman!" he growled, averting his eyes uncomfortably as he fought to ignore the sight of her undressing in his peripheral vision.

"Well evidently you've seen it all already haven't you, so what's the difference?" she hissed pointedly. "And my name isn't _woman_ , it's Kathryn—or Kate. You should probably learn to use it since seeing me naked seems to be a habit of yours."

Vegeta grit his teeth when his cock twitched involuntarily.

"Woman, that's not what—"

"Here!" she snapped cutting off his words. "Take your damn shirt!"

The wadded ball of pink fabric was suddenly shoved at his chest, and it was a knee-jerk reaction when his eyes swung back to where she was now standing with her hands on her hips, smirking up at him. He instantly regretted it. She was naked from the waist up, the dark waves of her hair barely providing a modicum of modesty where it had been swept forward to cascade over the pale orbs that he could still faintly make out through the thin veil.

"See something you like?" she murmured coyly, narrowing her eyes at him.

His eyes snapped up, completely unaware that he'd been gawking at her chest, and gaped at her in shock.

"Put some damn clothes on, woman!" he snarled, crushing the fabric in his fist before turning to stalk back out of the room.

"Don't let the door hit you on the way out!" she called lightly.

"Insufferable woman!" he growled.

"Stubborn Saiyan!" she shot back, and then the door slammed shut again.

After a long space of silence her eyes turned back to Bulma, a smug smirk playing on her lips.

"You know what? Don't worry about moving me. I want to annoy the fuck out of him as long as I'm here."

* * *

In the darkness Kate bolted upright in her bed, trying to get a grip on her surroundings, her hair flying in a tangled web around her face. She was cognizant of exactly where she was, as she scanned the moon-filtered shadows that slanted across the carpet from the terrace, tracing the outline of the room when she heard another harsh ate _bang_ —same as the one that had woken her—making her jump nearly out of her skin. She squinted at the clock beside the bed, trying to make out the blurry digits until she saw that it was nearly two in the morning. The muffled sound of low moans and sharp cries suddenly echoed hauntingly through the walls, causing fear to prickle along her spine and for one terrifying second she was frozen, eyes wide and blinking, as her heart pounded erratically in her chest. The terrifying wail that followed sent her eyes flying towards the far wall in alarm.

 _Vegeta!_

She scrambled frantically out of bed, racing barefoot across the room to listen carefully, leaning to press her ear hesitantly against the wall. She could barely make out the restless sounds of his body tossing and turning violently as he twisted in the sheets.

She gasped in horror, covering her mouth with her hand when a furious howl of agony split the air.

" _No,_ _Frieza! Stop_! _Father_!"

The sound of his muted words as his voice then devolved into mumbled hysterics, wrenched something awful inside her, making tears well in her eyes.

What was she supposed to do? Rush into his room in an attempt to wake him?

She'd more than likely get blasted to bits if she tried, and even if she survived, as stalwart as that man's pride was, he wouldn't be able to endure the knowledge that someone had witnessed him in a moment such weakness—especially not her. She knew him well enough to know that.

This was her fault. She just knew it.

Why had she brought up his father? Why had she brought up any of it?

Earlier when she'd accused him of having such nightmares it had merely been a deterrent to put him off balance—ammunition to cool his temper. It had just been speculative—a mindless theory, and a half-hearted one at that. She'd been making assumptions—blindly grasping at her own conclusions that she'd formed about him. She thought she'd made a gross miscalculation at first, but then his eyes had flashed with such horror when she'd said it. A lucky guess—one that she wished she'd been wrong about suddenly.

Turning quietly, she sank down to the floor, her back pressed to the wall as she curled her knees up tight again her chest, listening. His sharp groans of pain and the loud _thumps_ were growing less frequent, but every now and then she would hear one and flinch.

Coming to terms with her predicament had been surprisingly easy. So easy in fact that she'd wondered frequently throughout the evening whether or not she was indeed still in shock. She'd put the pieces together effortlessly, calmly accepting the truth that she was somehow stranded in a strange dimension with little hope of ever seeing her family again. Every now and then, the crippling panic had reared it's ugly head when she thought about it for too long, but aside from that, she'd surprisingly taken the situation in stride. Perhaps it was her intimate knowledge of this world that made her feel as if she held some degree of control. It anchored her, allowing her some semblance of sanity to hold onto. Of course it was absurd when she really thought about it. She'd met the most cherished characters from her childhood—interacted with them, touched them—was even growing rapidly more fond of many of them now that they were tangible and alive.

That was the most terrifying part of it all.

They were real. They were alive. Their fragile future had already been set, and yet it was all too easy to feel comfortable here among them—to let herself settle into place as if she actually belonged—and that was a dangerous thing.

She didn't belong here. She was all too aware of that fact.

Which is why it wasn't the knowledge of being stranded in this strange world, but the very thought of that damned arrogant Saiyan that caused her the most anxiety of all. Pretending to remain unaffected by the very sight of him had been the most difficult part of the entire ordeal so far. The rest she could deal with, but him—being near him would be a problem. She knew herself too well. She had to get out of this godforsaken dimension before her facade of indifference crumbled around her entirely.

A low moan echoed through the wall making her clench her eyes shut.

She hated how cold and rude she had been towards him, but it was safer that way. There was less chance of her screwing the future all to hell if she distanced herself from him—separating the cocky prick she'd met earlier from the proud warrior who's tragic past had endeared him to her over the decades. He was maniacal—a homicidal, arrogant jerk, and yet she knew that he was so much more than that.

It was really fucked up actually.

Why had she always been so inextricably drawn to broken men?

Her subconscious had even hammered home that fact the moment she'd found herself unintentionally attempting to 'fix' him earlier—compelling her to offer him forbidden words of comfort and hope as she watched her revelations wreck him to his core. She wasn't stupid. She was well aware how careless that had been, but she hadn't been able to stop herself. Even as the words had left her mouth earlier when she'd told Bulma not to bother moving her, she'd known that it was wrong, for a million different reasons. Out of all the others, he was the one she had a difficult time keeping her mouth shut when she was around him.

One thing was certain. She had to stay away from him.

The tears slipped silently down her cheeks as she continued to listen as he cried out softly in his sleep. It didn't matter what he had done, he had suffered more loss as a child than most people experienced in their entire lives, and he didn't deserve what she had done to him.

She dropped her forehead to her knees as remorse washed through her, and let the onslaught of agonized sobs break free.

* * *

It was before dawn when Vegeta stepped out onto the terrace, tugging his gloves snuggly into place by the wrists. He scanned the horizon, where the sky was beginning to soften in the distance over the glowing lights of the city, and suddenly became aware that he wasn't alone.

That's when he noticed her.

She was leaned forward, resting on her elbows over the railing with a steaming mug clasped between her hands as she stared out vacantly at the same view he'd been surveying only moments before. If she was aware that he had joined her, she gave no indication of it, and he used the unguarded moment to observe her small frame. Her long hair had been piled loosely into an untidy heap atop her head, allowing his eyes to roam over to the exposed skin of her slim neck and bare shoulders, save for where the thin straps of the top she now wore curved over them. He scrutinized her posture—the casual way she was pressed against the ledge, her slender legs crossed at the ankles beneath the hem of the indecently short fabric that barely reached her thighs—none of it giving him any indication that she'd been up all hours of the night sobbing.

But he knew better.

He'd awoken with a sharp gasp, drenched in sweat, his chest heaving sharply as he tried to catch his breath. The sheets had been twisted haphazardly around his legs during his restless slumber, and he'd ripped them away to throw his sticky limbs hastily over the edge of the mattress, hunching forward to grind the heel of his palms into the socket of his eyes as he braced his elbows on his thighs, fighting to calm his erratic heartbeat.

When his body had finally relaxed, that was when he had heard it.

His first instinct had been to bang sharply on the wall, and shout for her to cease the infernal racket when the muffled noise had caught his attention, but just as his fist had raised to do so he'd recognized the distinct sound of crying.

And it had frozen him in place.

He'd sat there listening to the rise and swell of her harsh sobs for a few moments before he'd realized that the sound was emanating directly from the other side of the wall, but once he had, he'd shifted carefully to lean closer. He didn't know how long he'd remained there, hanging on every shuddering breath, and soft whimper as she continued to weep uncontrollably, but it had been long enough for him to conclude that she was in a great deal of pain and anguish, suffering immensely for a reason he could not fathom.

That shouldn't have bothered him, but it had.

She shifted her weight suddenly, pulling him from his thoughts when she cupped the mug gently in her palms, raising it to her lips to blow gently on the surface of the steaming liquid before taking a small sip. He watched in fascination as a shiver of pleasure rippled through her body when she swallowed, shortly followed by a content sigh as she closed her eyes.

Then, as if sensing him near, her body tensed, lids fluttering open, and she turned to blink at him with a blank expression, locking eyes with him.

Kate was shocked to find Vegeta standing there wearing his iconic battle suit, openly staring at her without any hostility on his face, and despite the sounds she'd heard coming from his room during the night, she noticed that he seemed at ease—very much in his element as he tugged the edge of his white gloves with skillful precision while he continued to stare at her. He didn't look away when he finished securing them in place, instead lowering his arms to his sides and going very still as he regarded her stoically.

Her lips parted, as if she were about to say something to him and Vegeta braced himself for the onslaught of more barbs from her smart mouth, but it never came. Instead she seemed to think better of it, a strange flash of regret dimming her eyes, only for a moment before it was gone again, and then she looked away, staring back out over the compound towards the brightening horizon.

He departed without a word then, and she watch him go, her eyes trained on his body in flight until he disappeared from view.

* * *

"Just hold still," Bulma said gently.

Kate grimaced, turning her face aside as she braced herself, gritting her teeth when she felt a slight pinch, and then Bulma's fingers were moving deftly to unknot the tourniquet.

"Don't tell me you have a fear of needles too?" Bulma snickered, watching as the small tube slowly filled with blood.

They were down in the lab that Bulma frequently shared with Dr. Briefs, while she ran a battery of tests and took multiple readings—delaying Bulma's insistence of needing to draw a sample of her blood up until the last moment.

Kate swallowed uncomfortably. "Something about metal piercing skin gives me the heebie-jeebies," she told her, shuddering inwardly. "It doesn't bother me as much when I get stitches for some reason, because I can wrap my head around the necessity of it, but having my blood drawn and getting shots in the bend of my elbow has always been like nails on a chalkboard to me. I can't explain why," she shrugged as Bulma withdrew the needle slowly, covering the puncture with a cotton ball.

"I take it that it's not just needles though. Yamcha said you practically had a nervous breakdown when they mentioned flying last night," she said eyeing her curiously, as she offered her a bandaid.

"Heights, needles and spiders. My three phobias" Kate told her, raising her hand to wiggle three fingers at her before she took it. "Needles are something I've sort of been able to grit my teeth and deal with as I got older—heights and spiders however…not so much," she frowned, smoothing the bandaid in place over the cotton. "I mean, I can handle flying on planes and stuff, but theres something about being suspended in the air that freaks me out. It's the feeling of not having something solid beneath my feet—more the fear of falling than anything. That sickening lurch in your stomach when you drop…" She paled slightly at that. "I had an accident when I was a kid."

"Frogs."

Kate glanced at Bulma where she was was placing a small drop of blood on a slide.

"What?"

"For me it's frogs," Bulma explained, frowning slightly as she adjusted the slide beneath the lens of the microscope.

"Oh, yeah, because of what happened on Namek, right?" Kate laughed.

Bulma turned to blink at her. "You know about that?"

"I told you, I've seen it all," Kate shrugged, grinning sheepishly.

Bulma sank down slowly into the stool, biting her lip as she twisted fully to face her, tucking her hands inside her lab coat out of habit. "Since the day I met Goku, right?"

"Pretty much."

"Hmm," she hummed, frowning slightly as she stared blankly ahead, clearly deep in thought.

"What is it?"

"It's just…" Bulma pause, glancing at her cautiously as she pulled one hand free to tuck a strand of blue hair behind her ear. "I was thinking about what you said last night, about how you've already seen our future."

Kate eyed her curiously, unsure where she was headed with her line of questioning. "What about it?"

"Well, you said that there were certain things that you couldn't tell us right?"

"Yeah…"

"Because doing so might cause some sort of…timeline shift. Correct?" she pressed hesitantly.

Kate sighed, sinking back into the chair. "I'm not a theoretical physicist and there are a lot of variables at play here so I'm not really sure how it all works exactly. Time travel itself is complicated enough," she snorted. "In my world it's based on the theory of quantum gravity to join quantum mechanics and general relativity and all that—things that are far beyond my comprehension," she said, waving her hand helplessly. "But this…" Her eyes were tight as her mouth twisted sharply. "I don't know anything about how this works. Not really. I just know that in basic terms, messing with the past has a domino effect. If you interrupt one moment in a chain of events, it can set the path of the future skittering off into an entirely new direction than what was intended, or stop it from happening altogether. I'm sure that's unavoidable at this point because I shouldn't even be here." She frowned suddenly.

"Yeah, but wait a second," Bulma argued, leaning forward to touch her arm. "You're only talking about the future, right? I mean, your presence here will have no effect on what's already happened, so you knowing about our past won't change anything, correct?"

Kate blinked at her in confusion. "Yeah, but Bulma, the past isn't the part I'm worried about here, so what are you getting at?"

"Well, I was thinking this over last night, and my curiosity got the best of me so I just have one question for you—if you say no then I will completely understand and respect your decision," she assured her quickly.

Kate eyed her warily. " _Okay_ …"

"As long as we don't find out anything that takes place after this point in our future, would it be possible for you show us the stuff you know about us?"

Kate blinked up at her dumbfounded. "Wait…you mean the stuff from the discs I mentioned last night? You want to watch them?"

"Yeah," Bulma shrugged awkwardly. "I mean, you said that the past couldn't be affected, and as long as we don't know anything about the future then it wouldn't really change anything would it?"

Kate took a deep breath, considering that for a moment. "I don't think that would be an issue…" she answered carefully. "I mean, I don't see why it would. But why would you want to see all of that? I mean, you all lived it already, Bulma," she said, furrowing her brows in confusion as she stared up at her.

The heiress's face filled with determination suddenly. "I don't know, it's just…with everything going on with these androids…" she trailed off suddenly, hesitant for a moment. "It all sounds pretty ominous to me. I mean, supposedly from what that guy said, most of them are going to be killed and I just…" There was a hitch in her voice as she tried to choke back the well of emotion. "I just keep thinking about everything we've all been through together, you know? I've known Goku since he was a kid, and they're all going to be off training for the next three years. We might not get the chance to be together like this again…" she trailed off again, biting her lip as she looked away. "I don't know how long it could take for my dad to analyze your blood and test it for radioactive isotopes and map your distinctive genetic markers. It could be days or even weeks before we can come up with something that will lead us to the portal you came through. So before we find a way to get you home—"

"So what exactly are you suggesting, Bulma?" Kate studied Bulma's face carefully. "Are you saying that you won't help me if I don't show you what's on those discs?"

"That's not what I'm saying at all," Bulma gasped, waving her hands frantically. "Of course we're going to do everything we can to help you, no matter what. I'm just…asking you for a favor, Kathryn."

"Kate," she muttered.

"What?"

"Call me, Kate," she sighed, making a disgruntled face. "Kathryn feels so formal. Hardly anyone calls me by my given name."

"Okay then. Kate," Bulma nodded. "I'm just saying that while we have you here, let me get the guys back together so we can all watch those discs. Sort of like one last hurrah before we all go our separate ways for a while." There was a strange desperate pleading in her blue eyes as she stared at her. "Please? They're my friends and I just—"

She put up a palm to stop her. "Okay."

Bulma blinked at her hopefully. "Okay?"

"I get it," Kate sighed smoothing her hair away from her face. "You want to have some bonding time with your friends in case they all go off and get themselves killed. You probably don't think I understand, but I do—more than you know," she said, offering her a sad smile. "Goku's been gone since all that shit went down on Namek. You, Krillen and Gohan went through some pretty harrowing stuff together, and Yamcha, Tien, Chiaotzu and Piccolo were all dead. You all have never really just had a moment to breathe and relax since the Saiyan's showed up on earth," she told her, frowning when her thoughts strayed to Vegeta. "But if I do this, then there are some conditions…"

"Anything! Just name it," Bulma said excitedly, her eyes brightening.

"I'll let you all see everything up until this exact point in your timeline, and not one second beyond that point," she told her firmly and Bulma nodded eagerly. "Secondly, I'll need a computer to make copies of the last few discs because some of the footage is going to have to be altered for you all to see it. You understand the necessity of that, correct?"

"Because of the boy we met yesterday and what he told Goku."

"Precisely," she nodded. "Also, if at any point I feel like there's something that you all shouldn't be shown then I will have to turn it off—no arguments, no questions asked. Do we have a deal?" she said, offering her a hand in agreement.

"Deal!" Bulma squealed excitedly as she took it. "I can't wait to tell Yamcha!"

* * *

 **Hey guys, I hope you all have enjoyed the chapters so far.**

 **Unfortunately it may be a week or two until I can update again because my Grandfather passed away this past weekend so I'm going to take some time to be with my family. Hope you're all doing well. If you have a moment, please leave me some feedback or questions and I'll trying to respond the next time I'm on. Ciao!**


	4. Androids Shmandroids

_**Sorry I haven't updated in a while, this year has been insane. Thank you for all the kind words everyone offered about the death of my grandfather, they are much appreciated. You all are too kind.**_

 _ **This chapter was originally going to be twice as long, but I'm having a hard time writing the end of the second part. (Vegeta is a pain in the ass even just writing him.) So I am posting this chapter now and the second half, as the next chapter, hopefully somtime this week.**_

 _ **Enjoy!**_

* * *

 _ **Axis**_

 _ **Chapter 4**_

 **Androids Shmandroids**

An unspoken truce had somehow been enacted between Kate and Vegeta.

It evolved from a pattern of tense silence as the next few days progressed, into a morning ritual that was more often than not identical to the first time Vegeta had encounter her on the balcony. He would step out from his room, and there she would be, staring out at the city as the sun began to rise. For a few brief moments he would study her, and then she would look over at him with the same unnerving expression as before, but neither of them would say a word as their eyes met. Then he would depart as soon as she turned away.

Apart from that, they managed to avoid each other.

Vegeta stuck to his training, and whenever Bulma and Dr. Briefs weren't running tests on her, Kate was attempting to live up to the promise she'd made to Bulma in a way that wouldn't put their future in jeopardy. That required some 'Trunks Lite' versions of several of the episodes if she was going to let the others see them, and unfortunately Bulma had also abruptly given her a deadline. She'd somehow convinced Goku and the others to delay their training in favor of watching the discs, and informed Kate that they were all due to assemble at Capsule Corp in four days time.

Three days had already come and gone, and Kate had spent nearly every waking hour slaving over a computer that Bulma had given her to use. It had taken nearly 6 hours the first day just to get past the learning curve of their world's technology, and after that it had been a solid sleepless grind editing the copied footage. Though Goku and Piccolo were aware of who Trunks was, Kate felt it safer to remove all mention of his name and definitely any mention of his parents.

The last thing she needed was Vegeta's stubborn ass hearing about something that would prompt him to blow the future all to hell. She knew the Saiyan jackass probably wouldn't happily sit through watching the discs with the others, but she'd learned that Yamcha evidently had a _very_ big mouth, and supposedly Oolong would be attending as well. Kate trusted that pig to keep a secret about as well as Yamcha, and knew that if she didn't spoiler proof the damn show then two of them alone were libel to blabber the wrong thing at the wrong time to the wrong person and send the whole future careening off course.

By showing them the discs Kate was well aware that she was walking a very thin line between what fate intended and catastrophe, but she'd made Bulma a promise, and with the others set to arrive the following morning it was too late to take it back. Everything was set, all finishing touches made, and all that was left to do was to transfer the altered footage over onto some blank discs and they would be ready to go.

The only problem was, Kate had no idea where any were.

She'd been searching the compound to ask Bulma for some when she recognized the heiress' voice shouting from one of the larger hangers.

"Has that moron lost his mind?! It's like he's trying to get himself killed—or worse, us!" Bulma's voice echoed off the walls as Kate stepped inside. "Dad you can't seriously be giving into his stupid demands!"

Bulma and Dr. Briefs came into view on the other side of a large spaceship that looked to be about half wrecked beyond repair. The heiress was glowering angrily down at her father where he sat tinkering with some strange contraption at a desk.

Dr. Briefs seemed completely oblivious to his daughter's shouts.

"Uh…is this a bad time?" Kate mumbled awkwardly, and they both turned to look at her. "I'm not interrupting anything important, am I?"

Bulma seemed relieved to see her. "No. You're fine," she sighed, shooting a glare at her father.

"Is something wrong?" Kate asked hesitantly, sensing the tension.

Bulma pursed her lips in annoyance and crossed her arms. "Evidently my father agreed to turn this death trap into a bomb for the homicidal manic we have living on our property," she said nodding to the ship.

Kate glanced back at the enormous sphere and suddenly recognized it. "Is this the same spaceship that Vegeta used to go looking for Goku?"

"It's modeled after the monstrosity that we built for our trip to Namek, but that arrogant psychopath nearly wrecked it when he landed." Bulma shot her father another glare. "It's practically a ticking time bomb, and you want to turn it into a Saiyan jungle gym. That hunk of crap is a death trap."

Dr. Briefs shot her a withering look. "It's not a death trap. Don't be so melodramatic, dear. If he says that he can handle that much gravity, then there's no point in arguing with him."

"Say that to me again when that arrogant jerk pushes it's capacity to unsafe levels and blows us all to smithereens," Bulma snapped.

Kate snorted in amusement when she finally understood what they were arguing about.

Bulma shot her a suspicious look. "What's so funny?"

"Vegeta training in 400 times Earth's gravity. That's what's funny." Kate said it like the punchline of a joke. "You should install security cameras so you can watch him fall flat on his stubborn ass."

"I'd pay to see that," Bulma snorted. "So you knew about this?"

Kate crossed her arms and raised a brow pointedly. "I've already seen all of this, remember? I didn't know the gravity chamber was built using spare parts from the ship though. I thought it was already built."

"Not spare parts, the whole damn thing," Bulma corrected her.

"So if this is going to be the gravity chamber, then where does he go to train everyday?"

"There's a temporary one set up on the far side of the compound by the smaller hangars, but it's only able to reach 100 times earth's gravity. It's not built for space travel so it's not strong enough to withstand 300. Nonetheless 400. Neither is this thing if you ask me," she muttered.

"Trust me, it'll hold just fine. Your dad knows what he's doing," Kate assured her.

Dr. Brief's turned to give her a sly wink, making her giggle

"Besides, if it ruptures it won't be because of the gravity—it'll be because Vegeta blew it the fuck up," Kate snickered.

Bulma crossed her arms and leveled her with a dubious expression. "So the moron will be fine then?"

"I didn't say _that_ , but he'll be fine- _ish_ ," she joked. "It'll take more than 300 times Earth's gravity to kill that stubborn bastard." Her eyes narrowed teasingly at Bulma. "Don't tell me you're worried about him."

Instead of filling with embarrassment like Kate had expected, Bulma's expression soured.

" _Ha_! Yeah right," Bulma scoffed. "If it weren't for the fact that he's helping us with the androids, then I wouldn't care if he went ahead and blew himself up."

Bulma missed Kate's sharp frown as she continued her rant.

"I offered to let him stay here after Namek because he didn't seem to have anywhere else to go. I felt sorry for him, but he's been nothing but a pain in my ass ever since he got here. The only concern I have is that the stupid jerk might just blow the rest of us up with him!"

"I'd be more worried about Vegeta pestering your dad to death if he _doesn't_ build it," Kate replied.

Bulma grit her teeth, and let out a sharp huff.

Kate's lips twitched in amusement. "If you haven't noticed, he has quite a temper when he doesn't get his way."

"Trust me, I've noticed," Bulma muttered. "All he does is stomp around here shouting orders at everyone, annoying us to death at all hours of the day. Every time he opens his mouth he's either pestering me about his precious training bots, or harassing my dad about building his stupid gravity chamber, or ordering my mom to prepare him dinner like we're his freaking servants. He's an ungrateful tyrant."

Kate crossed her arms and leaned back against the side of the ship. "Actually, I'm not sure he even understands gratitude, and that's not entirely his fault, Bulma. He comes from a royal bloodline and was raised to be a king one day his people," Kate explained. "He lost everything and became a slave to Frieza when he was just a boy. For over twenty years, his arrogance and his ability to wield his power over others were probably the only things that kept him alive. He's been conditioned to believe that's what it takes to survive out there in the cruelty of space. He was never shown kindness or compassion or generosity before coming to earth."

Bulma tried to speak but Kate held up her hands to stop her.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that how he treats everyone is _right_ , but it's all he's ever known," Kate said, shrugging helplessly.

Bulma's pursed her lips, seeming to chew on that. "Well, I didn't know any of that."

"That's why I'm telling you. I—"

For a moment Kate hesitated, torn between regret and guilt as she debated what to say.

In the end, her guilt overpowered everything else. "I know it's asking a lot, but try to have patience with him," she finally sighed. "You might actually like him once you get to know him."

Bulma eyed her suspiciously then. "I don't get it. _You_ don't even like him, so why are you trying to convince _me_ to like him?"

Kate raised a brow. "I never said that I didn't like him."

"You don't act like you like him," Bulma argued.

"I just enjoy getting under that arrogant skin of his," Kate said, laughing awkwardly to hide her embarrassment. "It doesn't mean that I don't like him. I know what it takes to push his buttons because I know so much about him, and he's not used to that. However, there are certain lines with him that I will never cross if I don't have to. Insulting his intelligence is one of those lines." She glanced at Bulma's father then. "Which is why if I were you Dr. Briefs, I wouldn't bother trying to install safety protocols in the Gravity Chamber—Vegeta's not stupid, he'll just disengage them—and if you try to implement countermeasures to keep him from doing that, he'll just blow the whole thing up and make you rebuild it from scratch without them."

Dr. Briefs seemed to consider that for a moment as he swiveled his chair around to face her. "Hmm, I hadn't thought about that."

"However, you should install a biometric scan for the gravity to engage, just in case anyone who isn't Vegeta _accidentally_ wanders inside. After all, you don't want some poor sap getting turned into a pancake, do you?" Kate purposefully avoided mentioning Yamcha by name. "You can even link the training bots to it."

"Why bother?" Bulma grunted. "That's just one more thing for me to fix every time he breaks them. I'd have to link them to the gravity chamber's interface while he's not using it, and the only time he's not using it is when he's asleep. If he'd go one week without blasting them into a million pieces then I'd have time to upgrade them so he wouldn't be able to destroy them so easily."

"What sort of upgrade would do that?" Kate asked curiously.

Bulma shrugged. "They just need their program modified for better evasive maneuvers."

"Is that something that has to be done through their operating system?"

Bulma rolled her eyes. "Yes, but I don't have the time to install each one individually. That would take days and I have better shit to do."

"Well, I could do it for you," Kate offered.

Bulma stared at her in disbelief. " _Really_?"

"Sure," Kate shrugged. "I learned a little about programming and mechanical engineering when I was in high school. We had a phenomenal science and technology program. Reinstalling an operating system is basic knowledge. Your technology may be much more advanced than where I come from, but it shouldn't be that hard to bridge the gap. Do you already have the new code written into the program?"

"Not yet, but it should only take a few hours."

"Well once it's ready if you show me how to install it in one of the bots, I'm sure I can figure out how to do the rest for you. It's not like I have anything better to do, and I'd like to repay you for your hospitality by helping in any way I can."

Bulma held up her hands. "You really don't have to do that. We're happy to have you here. Yamcha and I have enjoyed your company."

"I know I don't _have_ to, Bulma. I _want_ to," Kate responded. "You're doing me a favor by helping me find that portal so that I can get back home, and this is a favor that I _can_ do for you in return."

Bulma's smile was tense suddenly. "Kate you've already repaid us ten times over. You agreed to show the guys what's on those discs. Watching how they defeated enemies in the past might very well give us a clue as to how to survive the androids. That's more assurance than I can even give _you_. We've mapped Vegeta's trajectory between Capsule Corp and where Goku landed—since that's the area he would have flown over on his way back here—I've had nearly two dozen search bots scouring the area all week, but we still haven't found anything."

Kate felt despair grip her as her face grew serious. "Well, that's a large area to cover so it could take some time."

Bulma opened her mouth to say something but Kate held up a hand to stop her.

"Which is why I think it's best if I learn how to do something useful around here until then," she told her in a firm voice. "Even if nothing comes from all of these tests you're running, the fact that you're at least trying to help me is something that I'll _never_ be able repay you for."

Bulma was about to respond when Dr. Briefs cleared his throat and stood suddenly, tucking his hands into the pockets of his lab coat. "Actually, the tests we've run so far haven't been entirely in vain. I did find something interesting."

Bulma balked at him. "Dad, what are you talking about? All the lab results came back negative for any traces of radioactive signatures."

"That's true. However…" He held up his finger as he reached inside the breast pocket beneath his lab coat. "The results of her blood work were quite fascinating."

He produced a folded piece of paper and offered it to Bulma, which she snatched up quickly, scanning the information intensely.

"This doesn't make any sense," she murmured in confusion.

Kate straightened away from the side of the ship in interest. "Why? What does it say?"

"This says that you're human…but you're also…not." Bulma slowly looked up from the paper to blink at her in surprise.

Kate frowned back at her in confusion. "What in the hell does that even mean?"

"All humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes, compiled of both protein-coding DNA and non-coding DNA," Bulma explained.

"Yeah, that's basic biology," Kate replied dismissively. "It's the same where I come from. I learned all of that when I was a kid. So what's your point?"

Bulma paused, thinking about how best to explain it. "Every single protein in human DNA has been mapped out for the most part and narrowed down to about twenty thousand different proteins."

Kate blinked at her blankly. " _And_?"

Bulma took a deep breath and handed her the paper. " _And_ …you have three that don't exist in our genetic database of the human species."

To Kate, the numbers and subsequent information compiled into columns meant nothing, but three rows of red text stood out amongst the rest of the black ink. She furrowed her brows, trying to make sense of it to no avail.

"So?" Kate sighed and handed the paper back to Bulma. "I'm from an alternate dimension, Bulma. It makes sense that I wouldn't be the same type of _human_ as the rest of you. Where I come from humans don't have the ability to fly or make energy balls with their hands. Maybe we're behind on the evolutionary curve," she joked.

Bulma pursed her lips. "We can't _all_ do that, you know?"

"Sure you can," Kate shrugged with a laugh. "Yamcha and Krillen are ordinary humans aren't they?"

"That's debatable," Bulma muttered wryly making Kate laugh, but she stopped when Bulma suddenly grew serious.

"What is it?"

Bulma contemplated her answer. "You know, going through that portal could be the reason you have these mutant proteins if it affected you on a cellular level, so I wonder if you emit the same energy as the portal," she murmured thoughtfully. "If that's the case, it would explain why you're different from normal humans. At first I thought about designing a tracker like the one I incorporated into the Dragon Radar, but instead tailoring it to your specific energy signature."

A spark of hope filled Kate. "Why can't you do that then?"

Dr. Briefs glanced up at his daughter and they exchanged a strange look.

"What aren't you telling me?" Kate demanded anxiously.

"I didn't say anything because I didn't want to worry you, but the results of your blood work weren't the only things about you that were…abnormal," Bulma began hesitantly. "It's not what we found, but what we didn't."

Kate frowned and braced herself for more bad news. "Just spit it out, Bulma."

"Listen, I was telling the truth when I said that we haven't found anything that we can use to link you to the portal yet, so just hear me out, okay?" Bulma said carefully.

Kate eyed her warily. "I'm listening…"

"You see, the technology that I used for the dragon radar is similar to the algorithm we use to detect most life forms, but since the Dragon Balls aren't organic, we track them using the faint electromagnetic pulse that they emit. I was going to use that idea to track the portal, and a regular energy reading to to see if I could match it to you. I don't want you to freak out, but the problem with that is…" Bulma tensed suddenly and took a deep breath. "…neither you or the portal have a detectable energy signature—electromagnetic or otherwise."

The heiress waited silently for Kate's reaction, but her expression was indecipherable as she stared blinking at her blankly with wide eyes.

"I don't…understand. I'm not a Dragon Ball, I'm a person."

"Yes, and on a normal body scan, your life signs are the same as any other human—body heat, heart beat, etcetera. But when we try to scan your individual energy signature—what Goku and the guys refer to as Ki, well…there's just nothing there." Bulma frowned, twisting her hands anxiously when Kate's expression looked slightly panicked.

"What does that even mean?"

"It's not a bad thing," Bulma rushed to explain. "It doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with you, it just means that we don't posses the technology to even track _you_. Which is why if the portal doesn't have an electromagnetic field to detect but instead has the same energy as you do…"

"Then there's no way to find it," Kate whispered, her voice eerily hollow.

" _Yet_ ," Bulma corrected her. "There's no way to find it _yet_."

Kate didn't respond as she stared straight ahead as if seeing nothing, until the silence between them grew tense.

Bulma and Dr. Brief watched her with sympathy in their eyes before glancing at one another worriedly.

"He _was_ lying then," Kate whispered.

Bulma turned back to her in confusion. "Who?"

"Vegeta."

"About what?"

"Remember when he came storming into my room and I confronted him about being the one who found me?"

Bulma nodded.

"Initially I'd assumed that he must have seen the light from the portal that night on his way back to compound—the same way I'd seen it glowing in the woods right before I fell through it. I can't quite put my finger on it, but when he said that he didn't remember where the portal was and I asked him to at least point us in the right direction, I thought I saw something on his face right before he looked away. I was so sure that he was hiding something. I began to suspect that he had sensed the energy from portal that night, but that he was possibly keeping the location from me out of spite because I'd wounded his pride—which is the worst thing I could have done." She frowned and looked away then. "But now I wonder if maybe I was wrong." She finally met Bulma's gaze.

"Yeah, but like you said Kate, even if he can't sense it's energy, he has to have some general idea of where we should be looking. So maybe what he _does_ know can still be of some use," Bulma said in a hopeful voice.

Kate was already shaking her head sadly. "You misunderstand what I'm saying. I _do_ think Vegeta sensed it the night he found me, and that he _is_ in fact lying about not remembering it's location, but I think I got his motives all wrong. He may know where it _was_ , but it could also mean that he knows where it _isn't,_ " Kate said pointedly.

Bulma stilled. "Wait, what are you saying?"

Kate's face scrunched in frustration. "The area you've been canvasing—I've seen the maps—it's nearly 2,300 kilometers between the Northern Wastelands and West City, right?"

"Give or take a couple hundred kilometers," Bulma conceded curiously.

"Well, if Vegeta had merely _seen_ the light from the portal on his way back here, then that means that he never deviated far from his path, and depending on the visibility that night, that leaves his range of sight from that altitude at best to what—15 kilometers at most?"

"Something like that," Bulma said, suddenly intrigued.

Kate did a rough estimate in her head. "That's nearly 35,000 square kilometers to cover, and how much of that have your bots canvased already?"

Bulma's excitement faltered. "All of it. _Twice_."

That caught Kate off guard making her pause for a moment. "Oh," she said softly.

If they'd searched it twice already…

Kate shook it off and continued, "Well, that means that if it were there then they would have found it by now," she said, disappointment evident in her voice. " _But,_ if Vegeta did sense it's energy signature that night like I suspect, then his trajectory would have been diverted somewhere outside the grid that you've been searching in. So far out in fact, that it's the only reasonable explanation as to why he brought me to Kame House instead of bringing me here—because Kame House was closer."

Bulma suck in a sharp breath in shock. "But Kame House is practically half a world away from here! To even put it in range of being closer to where you were found then that would mean that Vegeta would have had to of sensed the portal from nearly 7,000 kilometers away."

"Precisely. Therefore your most basic tracking device would be able to detect an energy signature of that magnitude. Which leaves one of two possibilities." Kate frowned, her lips tight as she gathered the courage to admit it out loud. "Either Vegeta saw the portal somewhere on his trip home, and your search bots haven't found anything because it's gone…or if I'm right and Vegeta was indeed lying to me, then unfortunately I think your theory about me having the same energy signature as the portal was correct."

"Now you've lost me," Bulma muttered, scrunching her face in confusion.

"If you can't detect the energy from the portal anymore, but the night I was found it had an energy signal strong enough to draw Vegeta to it from thousands of kilometers away, then that means that if I don't have an energy signature now…"

Understanding slowly slid across Bulma's face.

"…then it's a very real possibility that either way the portal may be gone," Kate whispered, speaking Bulma's realization out loud. "And Vegeta may very well know that already." The words tasted bitter in Kate's mouth as she spoke them. "Which is why he lied to me."

Bulma looked doubtful suddenly. "I think you're giving him too much credit, Kate."

"Well, it's either that or he's really just that much of an asshole."

"I vote asshole," Bulma muttered. "Regardless, it makes no sense why he would even bother lying to you about it."

"Like I said, I initially thought it was out of spite," Kate sighed, leaning back. "But if he knows that the portal is gone, you'd think the other night when we were shouting at each other would have been a prime opportunity for him to use that information to hurt me. So why didn't he? I don't buy his bullshit about 'not remembering' where he found me for a single second."

Bulma shrugged. "So maybe I'm wrong then. Maybe you not having an energy signature has nothing to do with why we can't find the portal, and Vegeta is actually just being an insufferable asshole." She bit her lip and considered that for a moment. "Have you tried asking him since then? Maybe now that things have cooled off between you two he won't be such a prick about it."

"I've already considered the fact that even if he were willing to help—which he's clearly not—I still might be stuck here forever anyway, and if that's the case then I see no point in begging for his help. I don't want to give him the satisfaction of being the one to destroy what little hope I have left. We'll either find the portal eventually, or we won't," Kate told her, a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach filling her as she said the words, but she put on a brave face and glanced over at Bulma. "So, until that times comes, as I was saying before, I think it's best if I focus on earning my keep," she said in a determined voice, but she couldn't hid the grim look in her eyes.

Bulma's eyes flashed with concern. "Kate, if we can't find a way to get you home, we're not just going to throw you out on the street. I hope you know that."

"No, I know you wouldn't do that, Bulma," Kate assured her quickly. "I didn't mean to imply anything like that. I just wasn't raised to be a charity case. Besides who knows," she shrugged, "Maybe after I've had some time to get used to your technology we can put our heads together and find a way to install the bots with invisible shields like the spaceships have. If we could find a way to make them strong enough to withstand Ki blasts then you wouldn't have to reprogram their defenses because Captain Asshole wouldn't be able to destroy them in the first place. That's gotta come close to at least making us even, right?" Kate joked with a half-hearted laugh.

Bulma froze, blinking at her for a long moment.

"Kami, that's brilliant!" she gasped, pressing her palms into the fluff of her blue curls excitedly.

Kate made a face in confusion. "Huh?"

"Why didn't I think of that? That's genius!" Bulma exclaimed.

"I wasn't being serious, Bulma. It was just a joke," Kate laughed awkwardly.

"Yes, but it might actually work," Dr. Briefs interjected suddenly, his eyes alight with intrigue. "We'd just need a way to gauge the power level Vegeta exerts when he fires at them, and then design the shield to withstand it. We could actually use that information to upgrade the ships defensive shields as well."

"I've got it," Bulma said, snapping her fingers excitedly. "The scouters the Saiyans were wearing when they came to earth can gauge power levels. I reprogrammed them to display our number system. We could use that technology in the bots."

"Yeah, but Vegeta's not going to agree being monitored. You'd have to program the bots to store the data they record while he's training without him knowing it, and even if you did that, he'd destroy them before you'd ever get a chance to retrieve the data," Kate argued.

Bulma smirked proudly. "Not if we have the bots wirelessly linked to the Gravity Chamber's mainframe. That way even if the bots are destroyed, the mainframe will have already simultaneously downloaded the data as it's being recorded."

"Vegeta could destroy a planet with one hand if he wanted to, is it even possible to create a shield that can withstand that? Does that kind of technology even exist?" Kate asked.

"Vegeta doesn't use his full power to train, if he did then this planet would be dust by now," Bulma pointed out. "We don't need to build a shield that counters his full power, just one that can withstand the levels he uses when he trains."

"Hmm," Kate frowned at that and began mulling over serval theories. "Well, that explains a lot. If he's not training at full power it's no wonder he hasn't increased his power a million times over by now. He trains a hundred times longer than Goku does. He's probably faster and more accurate with his ki blasts, but if he's not using full power, or sparring with another person of equal strength that explains why he hasn't been pushed hard enough to become a Super Saiyan."

When she glanced up, Bulma was staring at her in confusion and Kate realized that she'd been talking out loud.

"Kate, I'm not doing this to help Vegeta," Bulma muttered. "I want these training bots to be more durable so that he'll leave me the hell alone."

Kate nodded in understanding. "I get that, but it's in your best interest to help him get stronger too, you know? Androids, remember?"

"Androids shmandroids," Bulma muttered, waving her hand dismissively. "If it gets him off my back, then him getting strong enough to help defeat them is just a bonus at this point."

"Fair enough," Kate conceded with a laugh.

Bulma glanced slyly at her father then. "Dad, if she weren't so hell bent on returning to her world, I'd say that you should let me hire her."

Dr. Briefs smiled softly, settling back into his chair as he folded his hands together. "I'd already been considering it as I was listening to you two talk, dear. After all, you're always complaining about how you need an assistant."

Bulma glanced at her then. "How about it?"

Kate stared at her completely dumbfounded. "You're serious?"

"Of course I am. So, what do you say? You want to officially become a Capsule Corp employee while you're here and come work with me?"

"What else I'm going to do with all my free time?" Kate snorted.

Bulma nodded. "It's settled then. We won't be able to get a lot done while the guys are here, but after they leave then we'll really be able get to work."

"Oh!" Kate gasped, Bulma's words suddenly jogging her memory. "I almost forgot!That's actually why I was looking for you," she laughed sheepishly. "I finished editing the episodes and I need some blank discs to transfer the footage onto."

"Sure, I think I have a whole pack of them somewhere in my desk back in my office," Bulma replied, motioning for Kate to follow.

Bulma was halfway to the hangar door when she stopped abruptly.

"Actually, you know what?" she said reluctantly, wheeling around to walk back towards the workbench her father was at. "I need to finish up what I was doing here. You remember where the lab is, right?" she asked grabbing a pen and a scrap of paper.

Kate watched as she scribbled numbers across the back. "You mean building 3?"

Bulma nodded, and turned to hand her the slip of paper with the numbers 818733 scrawled across it.

"What's this?"

"It's the door code to the building," Bulma answered. "The last door on the right at the end of the hallway— _before_ you get to the stairs that lead down to the labs—that's my office. They might be sitting right on my desk. If not, just check the drawers or one of the bins. I'm sure they're in there somewhere."

Kate eyed her hesitantly making Bulma pause.

"What?"

"You're okay with me just rummaging around your office?"

Bulma laughed inanely at that. " _Yeah_ , why do you ask?"

"I don't know," Kate shrugged awkwardly. "I just don't want to touch anything I'm not supposed to."

"Don't worry about it. To be honest, my office is a train wreck," Bulma snorted. "It's full of spare parts because it's where I fix all of my equipment—mainly Vegeta's stupid training bots now. Actually, now that I think about it…" Bulma's lips slid into a sly grin suddenly as she looked at Kate. "Maybe I can teach you how to fix them and from now on you can be the one to deal with the stubborn jerk, since you seem to handle him better than I do."

"Oh, no," Kate said, quickly shaking her head as her eyes grew wide. "That is _not_ a good idea."

Bulma made a face at that. "How come?" she pouted.

"I have a bad habit of saying too much when I'm around him," Kate frowned. "Every time he and I get into an argument he provokes me, and then I'm suddenly verbally vomiting up information about his future in response. It's like a defense mechanism—a word vomit defense mechanism, and it's dangerous. So I think it's best if he and I just avoid each other for the rest of the time that I'm here."

"I suppose I can't argue with that," Bulma agreed begrudging. "Well, you've got the code to my office. As soon as I'm done here I'll widen the search radius for the portal and send the scouting bots out again. Don't forget, my mom wants us all to have dinner together tonight," she reminded Kate when she turned to leave.

"I'll be there," Kate smiled blandly. "As long as you promise to run interference and keep her from asking me a billion questions about my love life. I swear, every time I see her she starts talking about setting me up with your dad's employees." She rolled her eyes. "You all _have_ told her that I'm not from this dimension, _right_?"

"She knows," Bulma laughed, "But I think she's hoping that you'll stick around. I don't have many female friends if you haven't noticed. She likes the fact that I have another girl to hang out with."

"Aren't you and Chi-Chi sort of friends?"

Bulma shifted awkwardly. "I like Chi-Chi, but she can be a little…"

"Intense?"

"I was going to say _insane_ , but intense works too," Bulma said with false sweetness.

Kate laughed at that, turning to leave. "Anyway, tell your mom to stop trying to play matchmaker with me."

"I make no promises when it comes to my mother!" Bulma called after her.

* * *

 _So...what'cha guys think? Questions? Comments? Concerns? Humorus responses? I love when my phone vibarates in my pocket letting me know I have new reviews. It's the highlight of my day. ; )_


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